Cardi B Turns An Upcycled Prom Dress Into a Paris Fashion Statement

In a world where there’s too much fashion, it’s time for more of us to recycle. In her latest look, which is a hoodie turned mini dress, Cardi B seems to be doing her part.

Cardi was in the City of Lights with family to celebrate her daughter Kulture’s sixth birthday. As a part of the festivities, Cardi, Offset, Kulture, and son Wave all headed to the Paris zoo to meet and pet giraffes, which the rapper chronicled on her Instagram. For her look the star, who is known as much for her rhymes as her fashion, chose a young Zurich-based brand that shows at Paris Fashion Week.

Cardi’s all black look came courtesy of the label Prototypes, launched by Laura Beham and Callum Pidgeon in 2021. Former employees of Vetements (while current Balenciaga designer Demna was there), the label is based around the principles of upcycling and repurposing. The Hoodie Babydoll dress was shown in the Series 03 collection during the spring 2023 shows.

“[This is] our first time with Cardi, who’s an artist we love,” Pigeon tells W over email. The brand has had other moments including Kanye West and Bianca Censori (the pair have attended the show) as well as Julia Fox, Noah Cyrus and more. “The dress is upcycled from vintage prom dresses and our cotton glove hoodies.”

As the sleeves are made of gloves, the gloves can be either worn as gloves (like they were on the runway) or as wrist embellishments (as Cardi chose.)

Styled by longtime stylist Kollin Carter, the black look was matched with the Balenciaga heels — “the ones that look like socks.” Hair stylist Tokyo Stylez put an asymmetrical bang in her long, jet black hair while Erika La’Pearl gave her a dark red lip and winged eye.