When Camila Cabello stepped onto the red carpet at the 2024 MTV VMAs last night, the pop star was dressed like she was heading to a (high-fashion) funeral—right down to the layered cross necklaces, designed by Loree Rodkin. All this was very intentional: Styled by Katie Qian, Cabello’s black strapless Tony Ward Couture gown—with a corseted bodice and semi-sheer construction—paid homage to the singer’s new song “Godspeed,” which she performed live on the VMAs stage later in the evening. “The song is very much about letting go of the BS—negative situations and people that are bringing you down,” Cabello explains. “We decided to reframe the VMAs as a funeral for all of the things that don’t serve me anymore.”
Cabello’s performance look was just as deliciously dark: a custom Kate Broadrick gown that was spliced and draped, finished off with glossy dark locks. “I did a death to [being] platinum blonde, because we’re now in the Magic City dark-horse era,” says Cabello. (The deluxe edition of her latest album, C,XOXO, is titled Magic City, and just dropped.) “I was excited to perform at this year’s VMAs, because I’m just super proud of C,XOXO—I was excited to bring that world to the VMAs.”
Cabello released C,XOXO—one of the best pop releases of the year—back in June. Featuring tracks like “I Luv It,” “He Knows,” and “Chanel No.5,” it represented a brand-new musical era for Cabello—with the bops to match. “C,XOXO felt like the album that I needed to write at the time, and the world that I needed to create to live in,” she says. “It has this boldness and risk-taking quality to it that is really important to me right now. It has teeth—which is not innate to me, because I can be more sensitive and sweet. In this world and in this industry, you kind of need to build that armor.”
The star’s fashions both at and heading into the VMAs leaned into this edgier, more raw Camila. The day before the awards ceremony, Cabello wore a fitted Versace dress (from 2012!) embroidered with crosses. “I wore it to protect me from bad energy,” she says. Then, for the VMAs after-party, Cabello selected a demure black Mugler dress with a fight-fitting bodice.
Her style direction may be more glamorously gritty than usual, but Cabello insists her night at the VMAs was 100-percent fun. “It’s always fun to be backstage, and to run into old and new friends,” she says. “There were so many sweet people that I ran into, like GloRilla. She is one of the sweetest artists that I’ve ever met; I’m such a fan of her music—it was so fun to dance with her.”
Below, see more exclusive photos from inside Cabello’s VMAs night.
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