Sade Adu: The Secret Fashion Girlie
credit: Vogue Runway
Sacai RTW Fall 2021, inspired by Sade, featured models walking to the tune of Sade’s hit song “Kiss of Life.”
“Sade has always been one of my favourite singers. She’s such a legendary musician. It was a pleasure working with her. As you know, we worked together with Sade on the t-shirt as well as the music—the song that we used in the show, ‘Kiss of Life’, is one of my favourite songs and influenced the collection a lot.” - Sacai founder, Chitose Abe
Unbeknownst to many, Sade Adu was a model while attending the Central Saint Martins School of Art in London. Sound familiar? No? Oh, just the school Alexander McQueen and John Galliano attended. During a 1988 conversation with Interview Magazine, she said: “I don’t really like the fashion industry, to be honest with you.” Always soft-spoken and bold, she continued: “I don’t like the way it works, the way buyers have so much power over everything — who’s their darling this week and so forth. I think it’s far more cutthroat than the music business.” (Oh, the internal struggle of every fashion girlie).
Now as for her timeless music, it’s not just her music as many seem to think. Sade is a four-person band consisting of Helen Folasade Adu (Sade Adu), bassist Paul Denman, saxophonist and guitarist Stuart Matthewman, and keyboardist Andrew Hale. Speaking of the band, someone bully them into clearing this Rema sample I beg!!!
Ok now back to fashion. Despite keeping it simple, her essence is highly sought after. She rarely wore anything other than black, red or white and when performing, often opted for a shoe-less look. Dare I say, boho chic. In 2024, the musician was morphed into a TikTok trend (don’t worry, that’s like the highest form of honor on that app) and “Sade Girl Aesthetic” began to trend. Before I knew it, one hate-watch turned my FYP into a guide on achieving Sade’s simple, cat eye and red lip makeup routine — with a “clean girl” spin, though. It’s truly not groundbreaking material but it’s timeless and frankly, that’s Sade’s allure.
So much so, we’ve been waiting months for her to clear Rema’s version of “Is It A Crime” (which… let’s be real… will probably never happen).
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
