RAYE Style Guide: Old-Hollywood Glamour for Party Season
RAYE dresses like she's been booked for a 1950s supper club and nobody has told her it closed. This year alone she's done a sheer crystal gown at the VMAs, a...
RAYE dresses like she's been booked for a 1950s supper club and nobody has told her it closed. This year alone she's done a sheer crystal gown at the VMAs, a red lace dress she sang in barefoot, a navy bustier dress at Rockefeller Center and a black Prada gown whose neckline got its own headlines. None of it has looked like fancy dress, which is harder to pull off than it sounds.
Her album THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE. is on the Mercury Prize shortlist and she's performing at the ceremony in Newcastle on 22 October, so there's probably another one coming. Until then, here's how each of this year's looks works, and how to get something close without a couture budget or a stylist.
RAYE's 2026 palette
Crystal and pearl, lipstick red, ink navy, black satin, and the auburn of those ringlets.
Crystal silver
#D8D6CF
Pearl
#EFE9DD
Lipstick red
#B5121B
Ink navy
#1C2541
Black satin
#0E0E10
Auburn
#6E2A1C
RAYE's four best looks of 2026, and how to shop them
The crystal and pearl gown
For the VMAs red carpet at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, her stylist Eniola Dare put her in Georges Hobeika couture: a sheer halterneck gown so thick with crystals and teardrop pearls that you barely register it's sheer, with a draped cowl at the bust and a string of pearls along the neckline. The hair is 1960s ringlets in deep auburn, the lip is dark red. What keeps it from tipping into costume is how little else is going on. No necklace, just aquamarine drop earrings and a diamond band. Borrowing this for a Christmas do? Same rule. One embellished thing, and make it the dress.
Shop silver dresses
Finish the look: earrings, red shoes and a cream coat
After the dress, three things do most of the work. Earrings instead of a necklace. A red you can see from the back of the room. And for the walk from the taxi, something soft and pale over the top, like the white fur she opened the VMAs set in.
How to borrow RAYE's old-Hollywood style
Pick one vintage detail
Her looks borrow from the 1940s to the 1960s, but never all at once. If the dress already has a sweetheart bustier or a big ruffle, wear your hair the way you normally do.
Cover up in one place to show off in another
The red lace dress has a high neck and long sleeves, which is why the split reads as deliberate. The Prada gown pairs its plunge with long sleeves too. Choose where you're being daring and keep the rest covered.
Wear one colour head to toe
Navy dress, navy backing singers. Red dress, red stage. With tights and shoes in the same shade as the dress, a high-street midi looks far more considered than it cost.
Choose a red lip or a dark eye
At the VMAs it was a dark red lip, both on the carpet and on stage. At the Prada gala and on the TODAY stage she went for a soft nude lip and heavy liner instead. Both work. Both at full volume is a lot.
The rails above update as stock changes, so prices and sizes move around. If one of them is the dress, don't wait too long. Then watch the Mercury Prize on 22 October and see what she wears next.