It’s hard to remember the last time two pop stars toured together, and it certainly hasn’t happened in the era of Instagram and TikTok. The Sweat Tour, headlined by Charli XCX and Troye Sivan, has become a mainstay on our For You Pages and the center of many a conversation since it kicked off this summer. How could it not be with Lorde and Addison Rae joining Sivan and Charli onstage at the Madison Square Garden?
At the center of this cultural movement is some very good fashion: Saint Laurent! Martine Rose! McQueen! More than 100 pieces made by over 40 different designers. And at the heart of it all—albeit behind the scenes—are two talented, pop-culture-savvy stylists.
Marc Forné, who styles Troye Sivan, has effectively turned the Australian singer and actor into a fashion darling. Their work together lent gravitas to Sivan’s most successful musical era to date, but more so it’s given it personality and a signature look. Sivan’s sartorial brand, as built by Forné, is sexy and unapologetically gay, like a rave-induced dream and practically all we could want from an out-and-proud queer pop star of Sivan’s stature.
Chris Horan, who has been working with Charli through her Brat era, has helped the Essex-born singer and producer go from an if-you-know-you-know cult favorite to one of the world’s biggest—and best dressed—pop stars. As Brat’s fashion architect, Horan has given a look to the singular and elusive force behind Charli’s hit record. It’s fabulous, aspirational, and simply cool.
As the Sweat Tour came to an end last night in Seattle, Forné and Horan joined Vogue in conversation to share how they outfitted the Sweat Tour. From inside jokes to now viral, iconic moments, here they discuss their favourite looks, what it’s been like to be at the center of pop culture, and, of course, how to dress up as Charli and Troye for Halloween.
Vogue: Let’s start with a vibe check. The tour is all done. How do you feel, what has this been like?
Chris Horan: I feel like the reason why we had such a fun night on Sunday was because we both realizsd it was the last time we’d be seeing the show. I am very well aware that this is probably not going to happen again. This feeling of something being so culturally big and fun, it just feels amazing and I’m already nostalgic. I feel like Troye and Charli have both echoed that sentiment, too.
Marc Forné: It has become something really sweet where the relationship between the artists makes sense and it shows in relation to the team behind it. It’s really something special. It feels different. It’s something you really want to enjoy and have fun with even as you’re working on it. It’s pretty sad it’s ending.
Horan: I will say, we’re also very tired. It goes without saying it’s been a lot of work.
Forné: It’s been a lot of work, and while we’re tired, Charli is now going to do UK dates and Troye is going to Australia, so nothing’s ending [laughs].
Right, you’re still very much in it. Before Sweat started, Charli had done a few shows for Brat and Troye had toured Europe. How did you two approach Sweat differently to those solo moments?
Forné: From my side, Sweat was meant to be the common ground between both [artists]. It was a challenge, but it wasn’t our challenge at the beginning. It was for the creative teams and directors, so Gordon [von Steiner, Sivan’s] and Imogene [Strauss, Charli’s]. They had to make the show make sense. Once that happened, the styling came in. From Troye’s perspective the shows in Europe were cuter, and when we moved into Sweat we turned the aesthetic we had into something sportier, hotter, definitely less sweet.
Horan: I think the biggest shock for people is that we were only going to do one outfit per show for Charli! That’s how the Brat shows were, and we thought it was sick to give each designer a moment. But the way Troye’s show is, a bit more narrative-driven with specific looks per section, we thought that we’d obviously want to do more as well. I was also fearful because we wanted to keep the show exciting for people in each city. I feel like people have learned that for big shows, after the first week, you’ve already seen everything. So if artists don’t change looks, then it becomes boring as a fan or even from a social media standpoint. That just doesn’t work anymore. We ended up tiptoeing around doing more: First it was three outfits, then after rehearsals we ended up having one more than Troye, which is the absolute furthest thing we thought we would do.
Forné: We were like, okay, Troye might be doing five looks, and they said Charli would do one or two. Then at some point it became five for Charli, then Troye ended up doing six, and eventually Charli had seven f***ing looks [laughs].
At what point in the planning process of the tour did you two realise you needed to talk about this and figure this out together?
Horan: I think our first call was at the end of June or July, and we became fast friends. I feel like we now text like every day.
Forné: Yes, we do [laughs]. It was very organic to do this together. I appreciate a lot working with someone who is going to be there and be supportive and wants to work with you. You sometimes come across people who make your life difficult and complicated, and this was just not the case. And even though we spoke from the beginning and shared lineups and fitting photos and explained to each other what we were doing, everything ended up happening the day before [laughs]. We would change things, let each other know, etc. At some point we even tried to coordinate, like okay, he is wearing the Mugler so she is going to wear the Mugler.
Horan: And that never happened [laughs]. I do have to thank Marc because, especially the last week of shows in LA, he was so patient because we wanted to make sure that at least two of their outfits were cohesive and we did as much as we could. Marc was really kind because we fit Charli the night of the show both nights.
Forné: The show started at 8:30 and it would be 7 p.m. and I would just be texting like Chris! Chris? Chris…
I’d love for you both to give us a line defining the aesthetics for Sweat.
Forné: For Sweat I would say that it’s wearable rave fashion. There’s runway looks, there’s custom pieces, but none of it for either of them looks like stage clothing. I feel like both of them could go to a party dressed in one of the looks they wear on stage.
Horan: I was going to say wearable, too. We feel the same way about it because we could even see people attending the shows being able to recreate the looks, they were wearable.
It’s fun, cool, and very Brat that they’re not in classic pop star uniforms: leotards, singlets, etc.
Forné: I remember at the beginning of the European tour the wardrobe team would come to me and be like, Marc, what the fuck? These clothes are not stage proofed. And I was like of course they’re not stage proofed, this is fashion!
Horan: [laughs] that’s very real. I mean, because of what Marc says about how wearable Sweat is, now that I’m prepping other things for her I find myself thinking that some things feel too Sweat, or wondering if it feels like something she’s worn on stage. I now have to carve out what the red carpet looks like, and everything else outside of Sweat.
Forné: I think as long as we put them in movement-restrictive clothes it will be different [laughs] because that was the main thing with Sweat, they needed to be able to move.
Right, they’re jumping around, dancing, kicking, etc. It’s a lot of movement.
Horan: Twenty-two shows later and Charli and I have not yet found the perfect “Track 10” outfit because she’s like…I just break everything, something gets caught and I can feel it pop. I’m like, I don’t give a shit if something breaks, that’s fine, I just need to make sure that you can move. As long as she can do what she wants and she is not editing her movement because of the outfit…that is my biggest fear.
What were your initial reactions to hearing this tour was going to happen? I don’t remember the last time two pop stars toured like this.
Horan: Justin [Timberlake] and Christina [Aguilera]! I mean, I was really excited. I was a huge fan of Charli before I started working with her, and I’m a huge Troye fan. I know both their songs back to front. So I was just really excited it would be my faves together, and even though they’re musically different, the fan base has so much overlap. I knew it would be a giant party.
Forné: To me it felt like a big opportunity. I knew that what we had done in Europe was fun, but that this would be a chance to add so much more. I knew it was going to explode so much more. It even felt iconic from the outside. I would see them at rehearsals in Peoria, Illinois, and I was like…oh my God, this is going to be insane.
Speaking of this becoming a cultural moment, I’m curious about how it feels to be at the center of something like this. Brat and Troye’s ‘Rush’ and Something to Give Each Other are moments musically, of course, but the fashion is such a crucial aspect of this because it gives it a visual definition.
Horan: It’s really special for me because the way we did this album has kind of spoiled me. Christina [Aguilera, who also works with Horan] operates in the same way where it’s all hands on deck. Charli wants to hear everyone’s ideas, even if you are the stylist you are not limited to clothing, and I feel like I thrive in that scenario. With Charli I never feel self-conscious about pitching an idea, which I think even being this far along in my career, sometimes you feel a little shy. I never feel that with this team.
With Brat, it was a lot of trial and error. People always ask, what is Brat? And it’s really hard to define it, because we created this character and world with the whole team where we are like that’s brat or it’s not, it’s a feeling. There are no real rules. It all just happened because we were a family of creativity and it just started making sense. We are all very determined and we had pillars, but what makes it special is that it’s been such an enjoyable process. Did I even answer your question? [laughs]
Forné: Jumping into the ‘Rush’ world that was created with Gordon and the way they did the music videos, I knew I was getting into a universe that I already loved. What I had to do was connect that universe with mine, which is the fashion side of it. My goal from the beginning was to connect Troye with every designer that I love and see how I can make them be part of each other’s world, and that’s what we did. At some point, maybe in Europe, I stopped thinking about it in the amount of looks we had to do, and more so in the way of making this era of Troye’s feel rich in terms of fashion. It became an inside joke because we would say we were going to fit 20 looks and end up doing 90. I haven’t been looking at it as a task or a minimum, just doing as much as we can so it looks amazing. I feel like this is a very special time for him, for them both, so we should make the most out of it.
I have to ask about some iconic moments, like the “Gay son” and “Thot daughter” tees by Lisa Sahakian at Ian Charms. How did those funny moments come up?
Horan: We both had separately made T-shirts, and were hoping we could get the other artist to wear one. Again, we were very much on the same path. Gay son, thot daughter, I have to give credit to my assistant Ian, who was like, can we please do this?
I have to also ask about the typo…I thought it was intentional.
Horan: No! We didn’t notice it. The typo killed me, but it’s very Brat. Anytime anything goes wrong, that’s also something we’d joke about for the past year, we’d just say it’s brat [laughs].
Chris, I also need to talk about the ‘Girl, so confusing’ moment with Lorde in New York. They were matching, which was perfect because of how the song references that they have the same hair and alludes to how they’ve been confused for each other in the past. Did you style Lorde for it too?
Horan: Yes, I did. I wanted them to be twins, that was my thought. I knew we could do that probably with the clothing, but then Ella [Lorde] said she wanted to do her hair like Charli’s, and I was like, this is amazing. Charli asked me one day if I’d be down to style her, and of course I was. Saint Laurent is one of my deepest obsessions, and I really wanted to make it happen. I sent her [Lorde] a ton of images, but in my mind I hoped it would be Saint Laurent. It was the first thing she tried on, and she came to my hotel room and was like, I love this, I don’t think I need to try anything else on. And that was it.
Marc, we need to talk about the ‘One of Your Girls’ moment in the show.
Horan: My favourite! It’s so amazing.
Forné: I’m quite happy with that one. It was an important moment, and also with the dancers, so it was good to put it together. We had Mugler, Jean Paul Gaultier, Dilara [Findikoglu].
Did you style the special guests for it? So Ross Lynch or Vinnie Hacker?
Forné: I mean, they were shirtless and wearing jeans and boots [laughs], so no, but I would check on small details because, with straight guys, you need to be careful with those!
In so many ways…. It’s basically what the song is about! Do you have a favourite look by each other?
Horan: It’s hard to choose, but that section, the “One of Your Girls” section is one of my favourite parts because it’s so epic. I also think that Troye stands out when they’re in it because he is this corseted moment and then the lights dim. It’s my favourite, so good.
Forné: There’s so many looks I love. I was obsessed with the look that broke the most [laughs] the McQueen. That look represents to me Sweat for Charli. It has so much movement, it can be so trippy. It gives a lot of emotion in the way she performs. I’m also obsessed with the Vivienne [Westwood].
Horan: We fit that one on day one, and she [Charli] was like let’s save it for LA or something. It had been burning a hole in my pocket. Our fitting photo, the one she posted on Instagram, is one we took in Peoria early on and we’re all like, it’s the hottest photo we’ve ever taken. I can’t believe we waited two months or however long to post it and for her to wear it.
And a favourite look you styled?
Horan: I can’t even say it, I feel like people will be mad [laughs].
Forné: I don’t care [laughs]. My favourite was the diamond crotch piece that 032c made for us. That was not my idea. I wanted to work with them because they have the rave, Berlin vibe, and when they sent the sketch I was like…no way, and they made it. I think Troye and Charli also allowed us to play a lot.
Horan: Okay, I’ll say that I do love the Dilara [Findikoglu] one we did, it was really fun and I know she loves wearing it. I also think the Westwood is pretty epic. And I do love the Saint Laurent one, that’s a look she’s worn multiple times. It’s hot and it’s a runway look, it’s not even custom.
I wanted to ask about the runway-to-stage pipeline. The immediacy of that has gotten insane. You two are the kind of stylist that is very savvy about creating a moment, or capitalising on one. How does it work when you see something and want it immediately?
Horan: I’m so annoying. I’m a Vogue Runway obsessive, I literally refresh the Latest Shows page constantly waiting for the new collections. Whatever it is, What’s App or Instagram or email, I message [brands] immediately to ask how soon I can get something. Neither of us, Charli and I joke about this, are unaware that this is a moment. I hope we can make it last forever, but we have to capitalise on the fact that we are at our peak of being able to do that right now. You are never going to get anything if you don’t ask, so we ask and it’s not possible we at least tried it.
Forné: It’s also sometimes hard to find something that hasn’t been worn when the collection was dropped only a month ago. It’s crazy, but that’s the fun of it. With Duran [Lantink] in September I remember I saw the looks they did with the lower pants and the underwear showing, and I was like, yeah, that’s for Troye. I asked for it and took it, I brought it to the US myself in my suitcase [laughs]. When you work with a person whose style is already clear and built, you see something and know.
Okay, one final question. It’s going to be Halloween soon, and I’m sure we will see many Troyes and Charlis out there. What is your advice to the kids out there who want to be them for Halloween?
Horan: My biggest thing is don’t be lazy. Period. If you’re going to do it, you really have to go for it. I don’t want just a white tank, unless it’s a wine-stained one [laughs]. Put some effort in, like SNL [Saturday Night Live], they fully remade that Luar look. Detail oriented, that’s what I’m looking for!
Forné: You need extremely long curly hair, sunglasses, legs out, high boots!
Horan: See, it’s easy bitch! [laughs]
Forné: I guess my only advice for being Troye is that if you wear chaps…wear the right underwear. [laughs].
We’ll let them figure that out themselves. Any last words?
Horan: Well I will just say that I loved working with Marc and I think it’s been so fun to do this. I feel like we’re genuinely close now, and I’m sad he doesn’t live in this country.
Forné: Same here! We had a very good time. I will also be coming back.
Marc loves a New York minute.
Forné: I really do. Speaking of, I’m going to catch a flight. Bye, guys!
This story was originally published on Vogue.com.
