August Barron SS26

Benjamin Barron and Bror August Vestbø are no strangers to a pop diva. Back in 2023, when their rising label was still called All-In, the design duo centred their SS24 show around a fictional pop star called Allina. On the runway, the designers imagined what her madcap wardrobe might look like, and teamed up with Norwegian duo Smerz to craft Allina’s debut (and so far only) EP. Now they’ve officially changed their name to August Barron, but the boys are still as music-obsessed as ever: pop icons are a constant source of design inspiration, they filmed and edited the music video for standout Smerz track “You got time and I got money”, while a chopped and screwed version of Britney’s “Piece of Me” dominated their latest Paris runway. “Music is almost always the first thing that we collect when starting a collection,” the pair tell us in their winter 2025 cover interview. “Working with Smerz has taught us a lot. They collage genres the way we collage garments.”

So, to celebrate their first Dazed cover – and in the storied tradition of Gay Guy Music Video Night – we asked Barron and Vestbø to curate an exclusive playlist of their favourite music videos. From Addison, Björk and Lana to Kylie, Cassie and Gaga, get lost in the world of pop divas below.

SMERZ, “YOU GOT TIME AND I GOT MONEY”

August Barron: We started this year with Smerz on a road trip filming for this song. We had been talking about the making of this video for three years. Because it’s such a perfect song, it felt almost impossible to approach making visuals for it. The song feels like a collage of memories from an entire lifetime. It’s going to be a classic in karaoke bars.

HEIDI MONTAG “SUPERFICIAL”

August Barron: One of our main inspirations for ‘Allina’ was this video for Heidi Montag’s “Superficial.” It’s hard to tell what’s performance or reality in the video: “we are reality stars, so we are starring in our own reality.”

DEMI MOORE IN STRIPTEASE, “MONEY CAN’T BUY IT”

August Barron: When we watched this scene in Striptease, we thought the performance was exactly what we wanted our Allina collection to feel like.

LANA DEL REY, “VIDEO GAMES”

August Barron: The best video of all time?

ALALA “CSS”

August Barron: Punk, but make it pink.

BJÖRK, “CVALDA (DANCER IN THE DARK)”

August Barron: One of our favourite movies of all time. The combination of dull factory life with campy musical is fab.

ADDISON RAE, “HIGH FASHION”

August Barron: It’s no secret we love Addison Rae. Watching this video for the first time felt like watching a Lady Gaga Born This Way era video for the first time – the golden era of music videos. It’s very rare that you watch something new and have your mind blown. Fun fact: if you look hard enough, you will see our clothing in Addison’s closet.

GWEN STEFANI, “COOL”

August Barron: When we started working on the “YGTAIGM” video with Smerz, we knew we wanted it to feel like this – but without the budget.

LADY GAGA, “MARRY THE NIGHT”

August Barron: Probably the work of art we quote the most: “you may say I lost everything… but I still had my bedazzler,” “and the shoes? Custom Giuseppe Zanotti,” “morning Morphine princess,” etc.

CASSIE, “ME & U”

August Barron: Remember waiting for this video to come on MTV and trying to dance along? It’s crazy how such a simple and cliché video can feel so fresh.

PS22 CHORUS, “JUST DANCE”

August Barron: An inspiration for our “Debutante” collection – this video somehow documents this feeling of embracing pop culture for the first time. It reminds us of when we first heard Cher, Madonna, etc.