When I tell Kehlani, the 20-year-old R&B wunderkind from Oakland, California, that the motocross pants she wore onstage a few weeks ago are topping the wish lists of many a Vogue fashion writer, the singer is charmingly nonplussed. “My stylist got them, I have no idea where,” she says, laughing. “We were talking about attire for festival season, and I was like, ‘We can’t come with the same stuff we were wearing on tour. It’s festival season, it’s time to change it up!’ ”
After the underground success of her 2015 mixtape, You Should Be Here, a collection of soulful throwback ballads that run the gamut of relationship issues, growing pains, and errant fuccbois, the former America’s Got Talent contestant quickly shifted her career into high gear, too: Since signing with Atlantic Records in 2015, she’s earned a Grammy Award nod for You Should Be Here and began collaborating with artists like British pop sensation Zayn. Her relatable sound and around-the-way style has endeared her to legions of young female fans—think six-pack-revealing crop tops and low-slung pants that recall a generation of cool mid-’90s musicians such as TLC and Gwen Stefani.
But as the singer tells me over the phone from Austin, Texas, where she’s performing tonight at the SXSW music festival, her onstage look is hardly coordinated. “I think I’m just having fun with it. I’m not saying, ‘This is what I’m going to look like’ or ‘This is how things should go.’ I think people should just be fun and expressive. We’re too young to be picking out crazy outfits and costumes.” This laid-back approach to performance style speaks to her penchant for classic streetwear, like oversize sweatsuits (“Oh, yes, I’m a ‘cozy girl’ forever!”) and red Air Jordan 1s (“It’s a classic pair and you can never go wrong”), but belies how well-appointed her casual looks are. Working with stylists Debbie Gonzales and Daniel Buezo, the singer is pushed out of her comfort zone with elevated pieces from Alexander Wang and Off-White.
Of course, an expertly applied face of makeup does much to offset that tomboy aesthetic. Kehlani taught herself to do her own just last year, before going on tour to promote You Should Be Here. “If my eyebrows are cool, if my eyeliner is popping, if I’m moisturized, then I can pretty much wear whatever I want. I think if your hair and your face are together, I think it’s pretty much polished!” she explains. Multiple piercings and an ever-growing map of tattoos aren’t bad accessories for the look, either, nor are the delicate talismans she always wears—“a diamonded-out” necklace of her Tsunami merchandise logo and her initial “K,” a gift from her beau.
But despite her rising status as both a musical and fashion star, Kehlani is hardly concerned with the fanfare. “I feel like I don’t really care about impressing other people. I thoroughly enjoy impressing myself. I enjoy dressing in something cool and saying, ‘Damn, I look cool today! I did that!’ ”
