‘Ties everywhere’: Street style from Tyler, the Creator’s London shows

“Move over Brat green,” says London-based photographer Eric Aydin-Barberini – it was all about Chromakopia green this week, as alt rap superstar Tyler, the Creator took over the O2 Arena for three nights as part of his international Chromakopia Tour, including support from Lil Yachty and Paris Texas. Over the week-long residency, tens of thousands of attendees flocked to the central London venue to see the multi-Grammy award-winning artist perform for the first time in London in three years, with characterful outfits to match the series of eclectic personas that Tyler has embodied over his eight studio albums.

Since exploding in popularity at just 18 years of age with hardcore debut rap album Bastard, Tyler has consistently reinvented himself throughout his career. 2017 release Flower Boy marked a shift towards softer and more personal subject matter over jazz-infused production, while follow-up album Igor saw Tyler don a blonde wig to embody the heartbroken character Igor. His latest release, Chromakopia, marks a step back towards Tyler’s hip-hop roots, alongside sepia-toned visuals and an entirely new persona lifted from Norman Juster’s children’s book The Phantom Tollbooth: Saint Chroma. 

This huge range in Tyler’s music is reflected in the range of looks that Aydin-Barberini captured across two days of the residency (May 19 and 21). Spotted most of all, however, were outfits taking cues from the preppy, formal streetwear of 2021 album Call Me If You Get Lost. “Ties were flying everywhere,” says Aydin-Barberini of the Skepta-Mains-esque schoolwear and fur hats that abounded across the primarily London crowd. Elsewhere, Aydin-Barberini spotted a handful of bootleg Odd Future and Golf Wang t-shirts – the telltale sign of a veteran Tyler fan – and even one zealous concertgoer donning Igor’s blonde wig and pink suit.

Despite Tyler’s career stretching right back to 2009, however, Aydin-Barberini noted how many of the attendees were younger fans who had discovered Tyler during lockdown. “They were sad and inside listening to Igor and then Call Me If You Get Lost dropped as they were allowed out again and experiencing life properly for the first time,” says Aydin-Barberini, who spoke to many of the fans while photographing them. “It inspired them to get out and try new things after losing their teen years to lockdown.” 

He adds: “I heard a 19-year-old girl say Tyler was ‘banned from the country by Margaret Thatcher’.” (It was, in fact, Theresa May). 

Check out the gallery above for all the best looks