FKA twigs on new music, multifaceted femininity, and being a Valentino muse

At this season’s Valentino show in Paris, a lithe figure in a skin-tone vest and mini skirt pelted into the showspace and ran a lap of the catwalk, before clambering up onto a stone plinth and digging a microphone out of the sand that filled it. So fast was the person sprinting, it wasn’t immediately obvious who it was, but as the soundtrack kicked in, and her voice rang out through the beams of sunlight that poured in through the curved glass roof, the mystery was solved: FKA twigs was back to perform a new track from her forthcoming album at Pierpaolo Piccioli’s SS24 extravaganza.  

With twigs previously teaming up with the Valentino team back in 2020, her return to Piccioli’s fold made total sense when considering the themes of his latest collection. Women’s rights are in jeopardy across the globe – as right-wing and fascist governments police their bodies, take away their choices, and push progress back by decades – and so Piccioli chose to offer freedom through fashion. In an age when women are told to “dress appropriately” or else bring sexual assault and violence upon themselves, the designer called “real feminism” the right “to be naked, to expose their body… to not be someone else.” 

With this in mind, tunics and skirts were cut bum-skimmingly short, gowns came with cutaways that offered sensual flashes of hip and the curvature of the breast, and intricate lace construction played a game of peekaboo with the skin underneath. It was soft and sensual in some places, and powerful and strong in others, the petit mains of the house capturing the many facets of femininity and womanhood in every stitch, tuck, pleat, and fold. 

Exploring her own femininity and the many personas that lie within her is something FKA twigs has been doing since she burst onto the music scene in the early 2010s. Traversing the line between fierce power and delicate fragility and landing everywhere in-between across the course of her career, the artist has presented herself as a swashbuckling pirate, a skilled swordswoman, and even biblical figure Mary Magdalene. But none of these have been reinventions or ‘characters’ she explains: each one lives inside her. 

Of their relationship, according to twigs, both she and Piccioli somehow unwittingly sought each other out, drawn together as two “bold creators with big hearts”. The two share the same kind of passion for creativity and always being true and honest in a world that is anything but, with twigs becoming a sort of muse to Piccioli this season and beyond. Ahead of the SS24 show, the Valentino creative director told twigs about “a raw woman, with no make-up on, who wore her hair down and natural, and was incredibly strong and powerful” who inspired his new offering. “She was so beautiful because she was just being unapologetically herself, and in that way, she was a feminist,” she finishes. 

Turns out that the woman he had in mind was twigs, and so the two came together to collaborate on a very special piece for a second time. Here, she discusses her friendship with Pierpaolo and the house of Valentino, the meaning behind her performance, and a little, cryptic information about her upcoming album. 

Hey twigs! First of all, how did you and Pierpaolo meet and form a relationship?

FKA twigs: I met Pierpaolo in 2019, and for me he is one of those people that my life always leads me to cross paths with, when travelling, in shops, restaurants and at events all around the world. It’s quite funny actually. I love how warm he always is and how he always finds time to have a memorable conversation with me.

What values or traits do you share?

FKA twigs: I think that Pierpaolo and I are both bold creators with big hearts. He is so passionate and has great belief in his vision. Pierpaolo also has immense trust in the people that he surrounds himself with and his collaborators. He believes in family at home and family in art. I really admire and strive for that.

How does your creativity cross over?

FKA twigs: I believe that Pierpaolo and I both have a desire to include all of the arts in our work, putting equal care into the music, art, fashion and the overall emotional resonance of what we create.

“I feel a great responsibility to want more for myself and the artists around me that inspire me the most” - FKA twigs

How did this season’s performance come about?

FKA twigs: I have been messaging, calling, and curating dinners with a few of my collaborators recently to talk about pushing more for what we believe in and piercing through culture, and even though it can be challenging with the noise and stimulation of the internet to retain the tenacity and integrity and to fight harder for authenticity in the work that we create. 

I feel a great responsibility to want more for myself and the artists around me that inspire me the most. There is so much incredible work to be discovered we just have to be laser focused to seek it out in these current times. I spoke to Pierpaolo about this one evening and he shared with me the inspiration behind his collection. He told me a story about a raw woman with no make-up on, who wore her hair down and natural, she was unapologetically herself and incredibly strong and powerful. This woman was busy, she worked, she made art, this woman had a point of view and she was focused on who she wanted to be. This woman wore flat shoes because she was on the go. She was so beautiful because she was just being unapologetically herself and in that way she was a feminist. She was raw and effortless like the silk and linen that Pierpaolo was working with when making his collection. 

Then Pierpaolo told me that he saw me as that woman and he was inspired by this, he said that Kaia was too actually. He said that he would love me to create the music for the piece and talked about space in music and how he heard the female voice being used as a backdrop to the collection. Almost immediately all I could see and hear were sounds being made from the earth and bodies that have an intense purpose being used to create something bigger than themselves.

Can you tell me about the concept?

FKA twigs: UNEARTH HER represents being in a process, whether that is in life, in art, or in personal exploration of who one is. It’s about not being there yet, but in tandem being perfect exactly where you are. For me personally, the piece tells the story of being in the middle of making my next album and exploring the musical, mental, spiritual, and physical movement goals that I am reaching for in my next videos and shows. 

The soundscape was made live in the show using Foley techniques [overseen by Emmy-winner Joanna Fang], it was important to me to use these live sounds made from crunching gravel, pouring sand, and grinding stones because it represented the lack of control we have in our life and how everything becomes a part of our days emotional palette. 

I physically dug my microphone stand out of the earth because that’s how I feel sometimes when I create, everything is an excavation. Working with Benoit, the choreographer from Ballet Rambert, and the incredible Rambert dancers was amazing as I was able to use my female form in an extremely physical way but without falling into the typical tropes of being sexualised [which I sometimes enjoy also]. 

Sometimes I do enjoy that also, but often it has proven hard for me to show skin and captivate without using sexualised movement and I loved exposing this in UNEARTH HER. I wanted to catch eyes and win hearts for physical skill and strength. It’s something I have been exploring a lot in the last year in my personal practice, so [to perform] UNEARTH HER [at the Valentino show] was an incredible opportunity to show my movement practice mid birth.

Last time you performed at Valentino, you went for a massive custom dress, whereas this one was very stripped back. Tell me about the reasoning behind the clothes?

FKA twigs: I strongly felt that the performance was the wind under the collection’s wings so myself and the dancers should not have any embellishments on our clothes because the models were wearing Pierpaolo’s art. But also in my personal life I have grown tired of maximalism, and the hunger for more and more and more. 

I have been distilling my life down to its core ingredients, my most loved people, my most treasured archive pieces, removing the clutter in my home and in my mind. I crave nature a lot more these days, I want less and the things I have, I want them to last, I want to take care of and have pride in all of the things in my life. It’s become almost like a personal method for me that I develop everyday. I was so happy performing stripped and raw. I felt so exposed and powerful.

I thought the parts where you all moved in unison were really mesmerising. Can you explain the choreography for me, and what you were trying to portray?

FKA twigs: Well when talking to Mesh [my personal movement director] we loved the idea that the audience could look at the movement and at times it could be so slow and controlled that they could look at the collection as it moved past and then back at the performance and it was almost as though nothing had happened. I also loved the idea of the movement representing breaking out of the expectation of life so moving awkwardly to the rhythm and then dramatically breaking out.

“I crave nature a lot more these days, I want less and the things I have, I want them to last, I want to take care of and have pride in all of the things in my life” - FKA twigs

Are there any extra considerations to take into account when performing at a fashion show?

FKA twigs: To create a performance in 360 was really interesting, we worked hard to make sure that there was something to look at all of the time. I like the idea that everyone sitting around the room had a different experience and had a moment that was performed just for them.

Tell me about the track itself! I loved it.

FKA twigs: The music is from my next album, which is in process, and the middle track is called “Joy Squad” by Koreless. I have always wanted to dance to this track so I was so excited. It makes me feel like I have a pinball machine in my sternum and each beat jolts a different bone in my body.

Can you tell us more about the new album? What is its mood, what is the inspiration?

FKA twigs: You will have to wait and see x

@dazed Run twigs run! @FKA twigs performing at @Valentino SS24 💫 #DazedFashionTV #TikTokFashion #ParisFashionWeek #Runway #FKAtwings #Valentino ♬ original sound - dazed

You’re constantly reinventing yourself and portraying new characters within your fashion and your music. Who are you playing right now, what era are you in?

FKA twigs: I am not ever playing anyone – I portray different magnified versions of myself. I never really know what will happen in my life or how that will change the work that I am inspired to make, but I am always really curious to spend time finding out my new truth.

Was there a piece from the collection you really want to get your hands on?

FKA twigs: Pierpaolo spoke about using techniques in haute couture that he brought to the ready-to-wear collection. For example, the way that the flowers are held together was with really intricate beading. I also love the use of linen because it’s a super fabric. Its frequency is 5,000, which means that energetically the fabric is proven to energise the human body and regulate body temperature.

What is your top tip for fashion week?

FKA twigs: Stay hydrated.

What’s your fashion holy grail – what item of fashion history would you most love to own?

FKA twigs: There was a catsuit with veins all over it in the 1998 Olivier Theyskins ready-to-wear collection that I have been thinking about a lot recently. I wore it once in a Dazed cover shoot actually! 

Did you ever get star struck at fashion week?

FKA twigs: When I met Patti Smith I was pretty star struck. I flew to Berlin to see her play the next week because I was so enchanted by sitting next to her.