Tyla’s Recent Fashion Run Is Thanks To Her New Stylist

The relationship between pop star and stylist is a dance between muse and artist — and, just like Julia Fox, we don’t say “muse” lightly. Take, for instance, Lady Gaga and Nicola Formichetti, or Charli XCX and Chris Horan, Dara and Addison Rae. A stylist and image maker who’s most recently caught our attention is Ron Hartleben, the man behind Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please” furs and corsets and Tyla’s notably excellent fashion run of late.

Making your favorite main characters look good goes beyond having good taste, as Hartleben tells NYLON. “It’s about confidence and comfort,” he says, “because if they don’t believe in what they’re wearing, then no one else will.” After cutting his teeth under Carine Roitfeld at CR Fashion Book, Hartleben has worked in editorial and celebrity styling, and is now a go-to for stars who want to bring in a bit of ‘90s va-va-voom that roots itself in tongue-in-cheek sexuality and trend-eschewing classicism. Below, we caught up with Hartleben to discuss his favorite emerging designers, his signature look, and working with the main pop girls of the moment.

Who was your first celebrity client?

The first celebrity I did was Tommy Genesis. I shot her for CR Fashion Book. We hit it off, so I did a bunch of her music videos after that. It was a good learning experience to see how I can inject what I think works with what an artist thinks is right. She was very sex-forward, and her lyrics are really graphic, so it was a good marriage for where I was and how I was developing.

You also work with Sabrina Carpenter. How did that come about?

With Anitta, I was like, “OK, this is what I’m going to do for a little bit, then I’m going to make my money and try to lean into something else.” But things just kept happening, and Sabrina came out of nowhere. She was transitioning to this more adult phase of her career, and I was a little surprised when she contacted me because what I do is so sexy. I was like, “What am I going to do for you? You’re this bubblegum-pop girl.” It developed into this beautiful thing; we were able to meet in the middle and help elevate each other’s voices. But I was like, “Oh my God, am I a celebrity stylist now?”

You are, fortunately for us. In your own words, what is the Ron Hartleben look?

I think it’s hard to say without sounding stupid, but at the end of the day, it’s just c*nt. That’s not the level of intellectual resonance I want to leave in the world, so I think, first and foremost, it’s about confidence and comfort. Even if it’s a few straps across the t*ts and the tiniest little piece of underwear, they need to feel like they’re wearing a T-shirt. In general, everything’s pretty sex-forward, but I try to do that in a way that isn’t vulgar or reductive. It’s that fine line of wearing a pair of stripper shoes but wearing a Schiaparelli gown with it. It’s mixing worlds that are not necessarily meant to be together, but make a lot of sense in the grand scheme of things. Ultimately, it makes things more extreme and more tasteful at the same time.

I think you push people in a way that helps raise their profile. You most recently started working with Tyla. When did that start?

Her team reached out more than a year ago like, “Is this something Ronnie would be interested in?” I was like, “Yes, of course, please. That is my muse. I can do so much.” Then, location- and timing-wise, it wasn’t working out. They approached me again about doing her album art in June, and I was like, “Yes, let’s do it.” It finally happened and it went really well, and we hit it off. We’ve been going with it for the last couple months. I’m excited about the prospects.

I love the styling in the “Push 2 Start” video. How do you take it from the mood board to the clothing rack? Where do you like to source from?

I love vintage, I love layering, I love stacking. We had a deck when we were talking about the album art, and it was in line with the look for that video. We came to this mutual agreement that she is this earth goddess. It’s still extreme, but she’s still young and girly while being covered in bracelets and organic-looking materials that look like they could be made from clay or stones. Very ‘90s, like [stylist] Carlyne Cerf [de Dudzeele] in the Naomi [Campbell] editorial with [photographer Steven] Meisel, where she’s in all this African jewelry, but with pop-star quality.

I look all over the world. Working at CR Fashion Book and having Carine as a mentor helped expand my palate, and I know things do not have to be exactly as they are on the runway. We’re constantly on Instagram and websites like 1stDibs looking for interesting pieces that are not easily sourced. It’s easy to get look whatever from whatever collection. For me, that’s boring. I only do that when it’s something of huge interest that I know is going to be a conversation starter.

What else excites you about fashion?

I enjoy Addison Rae being a pop star and what that looks like for her. It’s so not me, the way that her and [stylist] Dara go about it, but it’s interesting to create a character and have that be so specific. Being like, “OK, everyone’s going right. I’m going to go left,” excites me.

Who are some of your favorite young designers you’ve worked with?

I like George Trochopoulos. Tyla wore one of his looks for the EMAs, that black knit see-through moment. I like his work because he’s expanded from simple, slinky knit dresses into this more editorial, daring world. I love Maximilian Davis. I enjoy the vibe he echoes; it’s very ‘90s in a way that I naturally gravitate towards. Same with Hodakova. It’s an interesting way of putting materials together that should be sexless, but is actually very sexy. That juxtaposition of weird and ugly mixed with fab silhouettes is interesting to me.

Who is your ultimate muse you want to manifest working with?

I saw Lady Gaga was working with new people, and that used to always scare me because she’s my No. 1 diva. Eventually, I would love to do a shoot with her and be able to work with her on an even playing field. That would be really exciting for little me.