Tulle Little, Tulle Late

By Katie Burke Before this article goes any further, it should be pointed out that there is nothing wrong with the material of tulle itself, and it can undoubtedly create some beautiful and whimsical fashion pieces. However, now that we’re at the end of awards season yet again it’s safe to say we have tulle fatigue.Fashion, and to an extent Instagram’s, love affair with tulle can potentially be traced back to one of the industry’s favourites, Rihanna. Arriving at the Grammy’s in 2015 in an empire waist, pink Giambattista Valli ballgown, a new fashion obsession was born. The multi-talented star has worn the fabric on more than one occasion since, with one look going viral as she teamed a blue Molly Goddard dress with trainers.All of this is well and good, and it’s fantastic to see the fabric being worn in fresh and exciting ways. The problem lies in the fact that it has become a trend and celebrity stylists have realised that people are constantly looking for that viral moment. Unfortunately, in simply subscribing to the ‘bigger is better’ trope, the personal style of many red-carpet stars gets lost. Instead, we are now faced red carpet after red carpet with celebrities turning up in ginormous tulle gowns, all vying to go viral on Instagram. Apparently just by wearing the biggest dress you can now earn yourself the title of ‘style icon’, regardless of whether the look is actually bringing anything new or interesting to discussion.After awhile they all seem to blur into one. Dua Lipa at the 2018 Brit Awards, Ariana Grande in a grey Giambattista Valli at the 2020 Grammy’s; the list goes on. Sure, you’re guaranteed to be heralded as best dressed on everyone’s Instagram story the next morning, but somewhere along the way it can’t help but be felt that originality is being lost in the name of social media virality. Perhaps tulle needs a break from the red carpet, in the hope that original style can shine through again and stars begin to experiment with other styles more for the fun of it, as opposed to solely wearing a look in the hopes of going viral for supposed ‘originality’ but failing miserably.