Kate Upton Hosts New Design Competition Series ‘Dress My Tour’ for Hulu
For the Milan leg of her “Eras” tour, Taylor Swift recently debuted a new tiger-print Roberto Cavalli minidress, designed by Fausto Puglisi. The designer created 20 looks for her ongoing tour, which includes looks by numerous other designers. Earlier this month, Missy Elliott kicked off her “Out of This World” summer tour with eight individual looks and nearly 250 total costumes, created in collaboration with June Ambrose. Ambrose previously described the looks to WWD as “performance sportswear with costume design attributes.”
When musicians take the stage, they know that what they’re wearing plays a pivotal role in the performance experience. “Dress My Tour,” a new unscripted design competition series, is spotlighting the process behind making those tour looks happen.
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“There’s so many iconic [tour outfits],” says model and “Dress My Tour” host Kate Upton, who stars in the show for Hulu. “Musicians use fashion, especially on tours, to further the story of their songs and of that performance,” Upton says. “And to really see that come to life in this competition series is fun. We have musical guests every episode, so the designers get real life experience presenting their designs and their story to these musicians.”
“Dress My Tour” features 11 aspiring designers, all competing for the show’s final $100,000 prize. Each episode is judged by a different guest musical artist, at the center of each design challenge. Upton serves as a mentor throughout the series along with judges Marina Toybina, a costume designer, and creative director Laurieann Gibson. “We really know who [the contestants] are, and what they’re great at. So it’s really seeing if they continue to push themselves, if they take constructive criticism,” says Upton on getting to watch the designers evolve throughout the process.
Guest judges include Paula Abdul, JoJo Siwa, Ty Dolla $ign, Toni Braxton, rapper JT, French Montana, Coi Leray, and Jessie James Decker.
“What each musician brought to the judging panel was that this garment was made for them, and [each challenge] was really about understanding who they are and what their style is or specifically what they’re looking for,” says Upton; challenges focus on tour costumes as well as outfits for promotion. “Also, there’s a huge performance aspect of this show, where instead of models walking down the runway, it’s dancers performing in it,” Upton adds. “So you want to make sure there’s no major wardrobe malfunctions.”
All 10 episodes of “Dress My Tour” will premiere on Tuesday. “It’s a really high-energy, fun show,” Upton says. “You can really see the glitz and glam on camera.”
Ahead of the series release, the model reflects on some of the memorable tours she’s gotten to experience in the past year.
“Last year I saw Taylor Swift. Such an iconic show. I got to see Beyoncé last year in Houston — which was really fun, being in her hometown. And I just recently saw Justin Timberlake in New York,” says Upton. “It’s always fun to see tours — especially now, having a peek behind the scenes of the fashion aspect.”
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