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Has Lana Del Rey Entered Her Shein Era?

Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Shutterstock, SHEIN

On Sunday, Lana Del Rey received Variety magazine’s artist of the decade award in Los Angeles. On the red carpet the songstress wore a strappy, malachite-printed dress supposedly from Shein, the online fast-fashion retailer, that’s priced at $18 (the site is known to copy indie designers, which could be the case here). She paired the dress with a mechanic’s jacket and tall suede boots.

Wearing an $18 dress on a red carpet shouldn’t be news but on Twitter, some took hater stances. Del Rey herself, when accepting the award, said: “I’m grateful for all the criticism — I get a lot.” She wasn’t talking about the dress specifically, but still others, including Lourdes Leon, model and Madonna’s daughter, applauded her.

“IDGAF, I love it lol,” she shared a post on her Instagram. “she literally can wear anything and it won’t affect her,” adding that “if she wanted to have a career in high fashion and go to shows everyone would still have her and gag because she’s Lana … that’s the power of becoming oneself … people follow you.”

Here are some more reactions supporting Del Rey:

This is not the first time people are talking about Del Ray’s style. Her look is constantly evolving. Born to Die put her on the map with a 1950s Americana aesthetic, including lots of American flags, cocktail dresses, and updos; Ultraviolence included a dramatic shift into LA dirtbag-core territory; and then she went back into nostalgia, dabbling in the flower-child thing before landing Gucci campaigns under Alessandro Michele. But then she entered her “Maxxinista period” when she wore a gown she bought at the mall on the Grammys red carpet and dressed like a casual Midwestern mom when spotted by the paps with her cop ex-boyfriend. Which brings us up to speed to today.

Has Lana Del Rey Entered a New Style Era?