How Zana Bayne Became Your Favorite Pop Girl's Favorite Designer

In every recent generation of "pop girls," it's difficult to find an artist without an ultra-specific visual aesthetic reflective of their sound. Olivia Rodrigo's Dr. Martens, punny T-shirts and silky slip dresses match her angsty '90s-inspired songwriting. Chappell Roan's vibrant, eccentric, over-the-top outfits align with her synth-heavy '80s music. Doja Cat's bold, hyper-sexy, avant-garde looks go with her captivatingly dark, catchy sound.

Despite these artists' different niches, one designer's work is a common thread throughout all of their wardrobes.

"I don't do a ton of outreach. People always come to me," 35-year-old designer Zana Bayne tells Fashionista. "When I started, I was making really visually impactful and provocative things, which is exactly what people tend to dress performers in. It was this natural meeting of my work and the people who needed to wear it."

Since starting her brand in 2010, Bayne has been a go-to for pop artists' performance needs, dressing the likes of Madonna, Megan Thee Stallion, Tate McRae, Kesha, JT, Caroline Polachek, Kim Petras and more. The first major star to request one of her looks was Ciara, in Bayne's first year of business. Then came Lady Gaga in 2011, who commissioned Bayne to dress her backup dancers on "Saturday Night Live" and on her "The Monster Ball" tour; eventually the designer worked on looks for the singer herself.

"I was working out of my five-story walk-up apartment in Williamsburg. I'd carry rolls of leather on my back," recalls Bayne. "I had one intern at the time who was out of town, so I was making six full-body harnesses and one for [Gaga] for the 'Yoü and I' music video. I was spray painting hardware on my fire escape."

Bayne's specialty is leather bondage-inspired pieces, a category that didn't really exist within the fashion sphere before her eponymous brand: "When I was first starting out — and this is kind of a bold statement — there weren't other designers in the U.S. doing what I was doing. Stylists were still incorporating sex shop harnesses and belts into their work."

What inspired Bayne to work with leather in the first place was her immersion in the goth music scene and appreciation for futuristic designs from the 1960s, specifically accessories. "[I love the idea of] having an item that you can put on top of whatever you already own and have it say so much about you. I found that leather and hardware are extremely effective communicators of such."

Though her initial work is influenced by S&M aesthetics, that doesn't completely define the Zana Bayne brand. In fact, on her website, the label is described as a "post-fetish" leather brand, broadening her consumer base beyond those looking to make a sex-driven statement. One of Bayne's self-proclaimed proudest career moments was creating harnesses for Beyoncé's politically charged Black Panther homage performance at the 2016 Super Bowl, a "project so top secret that I didn't take any process pictures along the way," the designer wrote in an Instagram post. "It was really tough, but so worth it. It was for something like 40 dancers and band members, all done in just a few days."

She's also worked with Ariana Grande on a sweet scalloped lavender bra-and-skirt set for the "Rain On Me" music video and accessorized Demi Lovato in a corset belt for her heartwrenching 2020 Grammys performance.

Even though Bayne's work doesn't always directly reflect an edgy or risqué message, leather as a medium inherently (and historically) represents rebellion and evolution. That's why she's also a go-to for some stars that don't necessarily have a "sexy" or commanding image, but want to go in that direction.

"I could send you a copy of every email I get where the subject line is something like 'Rebrand for such and such' or, 'We're crafting a new sexy or rebellious image for this person,'" says Bayne. "So whenever an artist is going through that re-styling phase, I'm a pretty convenient person to call upon because you don't have to just have an entire outfit of whips and chains. You can have just a belt, which, with the right hardware and design can say so much without saying too much."

Olivia Rodrigo's second album "Guts" and its coinciding tour were all about showing the vulnerable and self-destructive tendencies of being a teenager, resulting in a far more edgy wardrobe than the world was used to from the former Disney Channel star. Rodrigo traded in the tutus and heart iconography from her first tour for a variety of hot pants and crop tops, with one fully studded leather set crafted by Bayne.

Rodrigo isn't the only current "It" girl Bayne has designed for: She's racked up an impressive roster of star clients — it's almost as if wearing her brand is an unofficial requirement to enter the aforementioned elite and exclusive "pop girl" category.

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Charli XCX had been wearing Bayne's designs for several years before reaching her current level of monumental mainstream success. "For so long, through so many different phases, I've always known she was a baddie," says the designer. The "Apple" artist has been wearing Bayne's harnesses, belts and custom designs since the release of her first big hit "Boom Clap" in 2014, and has worn pieces from the brand as recently as the "Brat" era.

Perhaps Bayne's biggest pop-girl collaboration of 2024 was with breakout star Chappell Roan. The two worked on several looks together this year, from ensembles she wore at Coachella and Lollapalooza to her recent appearance on "Saturday Night Live," where Roan debuted a new country song in a custom leather pink gingham set. Most notable from the year, however, is the singer's performance at the MTV Video Music Awards, where she and 12 dancers took the stage dressed as knights in full metal and chainmail armor.

"I missed a call from Chappell's stylist Genesis [Webb] and she texted me, 'Call me back, it's important.' That was 12 days straight of 14-hour work days where I brought on extra team members. I don't think I sat down for two weeks. All of the dancers' looks, all of her looks were entirely hand-cut. And we're talking about full body armor with helmets, chest pieces, shoulders, arms, gauntlets, belts, legs, mic pack holders times 12, plus thousands of rivets," Bayne recalls. "It was such a massive responsibility on my part to know that this was such a big moment and all eyes were going to be on her. I just wanted it to be the best that I could do in that amount of time…it was really tough, but it was so worth it."

Bayne feels a strong connection to Roan in particular, citing her specific appreciation for true performers. "I like it when they've crafted their own persona. If I go to someone's Instagram and they're allegedly a musician but I can't find music anywhere, that's a pass for me," she explains. "Chappell is someone who has gone from indie to the biggest star, and it's been insane to watch in real-time. I don't take being part of this moment lightly. It's an honor."

Bayne's ability to maintain such a strong presence in pop culture is a testament to her work ethic and the deep care she puts into every project.

"I give a fuck about what I do. I think caring about other people and how they want to be dressed and how they want to feel is an eternally good thing," says Bayne. "I want the final product to be something impressive. I want the artist to be looking their best and I want to be responsible for that. I have a lot of pride for those moments and I think that translates. But why do the pop girls like me? You'd have to ask them. Being able to dress Chappell and Cher within the same couple of weeks…they're like half a century in age difference. [I think] there's something to be said about that."

Even though she's been involved with so many major moments in pop culture over the last 10 to 20 years, Bayne still can't necessarily grasp the overall impact of her work: "I'm just so in it. You finish one thing and then you're onto another insane deadline. So as incredible as these moments are, it's not always easy for me to see it or believe it."

What does help Bayne to recognize the magnitude of her success is something that would probably make most designers wince: "When I see other people make work that I can tell is derivative of something I did years ago, but they probably don't realize it because it's just a type of design that exists now," says Bayne. "Even when I see knockoffs, that used to really bother me in a personal way, but now I'm amazed that, at one point, this item didn't exist and now I brought it into reality. So much so that now other people want it on such a scale that it's $30 on Ali Express. That blows my mind."

One might assume that these culturally significant events have a direct impact on her ready-to-wear business, but Bayne thinks people would be surprised at the reality: "The custom work is great for press, it fills my creative soul and I love doing it, but it's not the biggest money maker…I get less sales when I have a big custom moment because people perceive the work as costume or fantasy. People love how the photos look and re-share them, but the buck kind of stops there."

Bayne's work, however, doesn't stop at custom orders. She has a thriving direct-to-consumer e-commerce business where she sells harnesses, chokers, handbags, belts and more. "The people who actually want to wear my things day-to-day, that's the majority of my business. The custom is the icing on the cake."

Fourteen years into her brand, one might think there's very little left on Bayne's career bucket list, but that couldn't be further from the truth.

"I'm not done yet. There's still so much left to do," she says. As for who she'd love to dress that she hasn't yet? "My bucket list human has got to be Grace Jones."

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