Despite her megastar status, Doja Cat is known for eschewing the billboard brands and tapping smaller but equally skilled designers. Take her recent appearance at the 2024 Grammy Awards, for instance. While others stepped out in predictable red carpet fare, Doja wore a nipple-bearing, sheer panelled corset dress from Dilara Fındıkoğlu, the Turkish-British designer currently ensnaring the fashion world with her very own gothic fantasy. And on stage for her most recent world tour, Doja also sported faux-six pack bodysuits by Ukrainian designer Natasha Zinko. So it’s no surprise that, for the deluxe edition of her latest album Scarlet, Doja has tapped up-and-coming Dutch designer Duran Lantink to see if she could loan a piece (or maybe she splashed out, who knows?)
Last night, a promo shot for Scarlet 2 CLAUDE dropped across socials, and though we can’t actually see Doja’s face in it, Lantink’s puffed-up clothes are unmistakable. In the image, the rapper squats with her back to the camera, wearing a knitted leotard, and one of Lantink’s vintage sheepskin gilets over the top.
The particular piece only debuted on the runway during Paris Fashion Week back in March 2024, while Doja announced the deluxe edition for her album just before that, in February. Chances are, the rapper was tuned into Lantink’s AW24 show just like us, and when she saw this piece materialise on the runway knew it would be perfect for the CLAUDE era. At this moment in time, we don’t have that much information about the deluxe edition and its new tracks, but if we can get any context clues from Doja’s choice of designer, we’re probably looking at something equally singular and subversive.
Scarlet 2 CLAUDE is released on April 5.