‘Love Island’s’ Ariana Madix Thinks Brunettes Have Extra Enjoyable, Particularly in Classic Versace

TikTook is full of loads of slop as of late, however between movies of AI-generated Days of Our Lives-ish microdramas and bland “Day in My Life” routines you simply may discover the proper gown to put on to your subsequent large occasion. At least that’s how Love Island host and Vanderpump Rules alum Ariana Madix stumbled upon a butter yellow Versace gown from the spring 2006 menswear runway assortment through rental platform Isle of Monday. After a fast name to her stylist, Emily Men, and loads of fingers crossed (for lack of a backup plan in the course of the becoming), the glittering robe, initially worn by Isabeli Fontana, introduced a heat bout of nostalgia to the Love Island Season 8 reunion stage.

“Someone joked online that this show is my personal Met Gala, and they’re not wrong,” Madix laughs. “To me, the fashion on Love Island is a fantasy—it’s this fantasy world where I can wear things that don’t necessarily work in the real world.” Since touchdown in Fiji for the US iteration of the beloved UK actuality courting present in 2024, Madix has explored trend extra totally than she has throughout prior public appearances.

For that, she explains, you may partly thank Summer House’s Lindsay Hubbard, who launched Madix to Men. Madix initially thought that individuals purchased their very own search for each event: “I just didn’t understand how any of that worked,” she recounts. “It’s not the same thing as going online and just ordering—which is what I was doing—and I think I was just spending so much money that I didn’t really have.”

As type has moved entrance and heart for the truth star, Madix now counts Men as an in depth pal—one who pushes her to discover a extra sartorially daring aspect. “I spend a lot of time on my phone looking at clothes, and I’m a big fan of vintage fashion and fashion in general,” she says. “And a lot of times, I feel like I see such amazing looks that I don’t necessarily have access to, so the fact that we were able to get our hands on this incredible Versace dress was amazing—it’s one that I’ve been eyeing for a while.”

While nonetheless on the island, this season’s appears to be like have included a shimmering Area mini, a liquid Di Petsa cutout gown, an archival-inspired Jean Paul Gaultier polka dot ensemble, and, Madix’s private favourite, a fetish-inspired customized Taylor Jean Cox gown and corset accomplished with its personal lace-up bumster second. The high-fashion appears to be like got an additional zhuzh with the assistance of her brand-new brunette hair, which Madix thinks upped the high-fashion issue. “I think with blonde hair, you really are very limited in what you can wear and can’t wear that doesn’t start looking, as the kids say, ‘cheugy’ or ‘lame,’” she says. In distinction to the darker hair, the Versace gown “felt like a ray of sunshine, reflecting on the water.”