Fashion houses' best product is not a product.

It was Off-White's Fall/Winter '17 show in Paris that blended music and fashion to a higher degree for a new generation. That combination of Miles Davis and Migos on a runway in Paris ignited something in the culture, and now, as we approach almost 10 years since then (this January), the landscape has further evolved. Artists are now borrowing from the fashion world to support their music videos and build the allure around them, implementing unique moments that either complete a cycle or expand the possibilities into a new dimension.

In late 2025, Lil Uzi Vert released "What You Saying," supported by a music video, directed by Charlotte Wales, that seemed far from what we were conditioned to see from him by now. He's portrayed as a designer, shot inside an atelier, with a star-studded lineup that includes Law Roach, Adriana Lima, Andre Walker, and Marc Jacobs, among others, all contributing to the cause. In one scene, Lima (styled by Roach) wears an archival Maison Margiela top with a Miss Claire Sullivan skirt, while dancers move through the atelier in custom Thom Browne. It might seem like one music video in a sea of artists, yet Uzi, as a fashion-forward artist, released this music video as the first one out of all the tracks for his new album. Not a music video that's released long after the album is out - the first visual point of contact with the audience is now set inside a fashion world, with fashion figures, alongside archival references.

But it's been 8 months since then. In that span, fashion houses have experienced a brand identity crisis (some will say), and when identity isn't set in stone, it's set to be influenced by other vehicles that can drive conversation, hence, Charli XCX's "SS26" music video. Charli, who's a YSL Beauty ambassador, is also very close to the house in general, shuffling between the runway front row and being a muse for Anthony Vaccarello and the house itself. The shift in this sense is different from Uzi's, as it advances the conversation to a bigger audience, since Charli XCX's run continues to grow bigger by the day. If Uzi's video gave us an atelier reference, Charli's album goes further; it's called “Music, Fashion, Film” with fashion embedded directly into its name. In mid-May, she released "SS26"'s lyrics on Substack, ending with the details for the video's release, visually given to the audience as a fashion show invitation printed on an A4 sheet of paper. The video itself, directed by Torso, depicts a runway, with Carine Roitfeld, the former Vogue Paris editor-in- chief, delivering the opening line while seated front row: "Fashion won't save us, but let's go on the runway and walk" - a further embodiment of the current state of fashion against the rest of what's happening, and perhaps a critique of what's actually happening in the fashion universe, all while Anthony Vaccarello, creative director for Saint Laurent, sat beside her.

The makeup for the video was done by YSL Beauty, a small detail, maybe, one that could be owed to the ambassador status, but we believe this is a pivotal moment: brands are starting to build their new world through select artists and their body of work, as an extension of the house and what it stands for, capturing more fans in the process, while they are trying to figure out where they are heading next, in the new era of fashion.