Tyla’s skirt designer Corii Burns talks ‘handbag’ micro-mini before the MTV VMAs

South African superstar Tyla’s skirt designer Corii Burns has revealed the micro-mini skirt worn on a recent cover for Billboard magazine is actually a handbag.

The Grammy and BET award-winning singer, who is in South Korea where she performed for the One Universe Festival in Seoul, was dressed in the designer’s iridescent metallic leather miniskirt for the music industry publication.

Tyla is nominated for three awards at the upcoming 2024 MTV Video Music Awards on September 11 at the UBS Arena in Elmont, New York.

The 22-year-old “popiano” singer — who bagged VMA nods for Best Afrobeats (Water); Best R&B (Water); and the Best New Artist categories — often shows her slim and sculpted figure in eclectic body-baring creations with a sultry edge, ultra mini skirts and statement jewellery.

“The skirt is actually a tote and once you take it off you can zip the bottom, pull it out and it becomes a fully lined bag as well,” explained Burns to TimesLIVE.

“It’s dead stock leather which I bought when I was in Paris from a small designer. I hand-painted it in gold and silver and if you look closely it has diamonds around the flowers.

African-American Burns, who will be showcasing in the upcoming Los Angeles Fashion Week, makes sure her fashions use sustainable, innovative and upcycled materials that merge fashion with art.

“When larger companies use or order too much fabric there are fabric rolls left. Usually, those fabric rolls, known as ‘dead stock’, are thrown in the trash or burnt. So instead of doing that, they give it to smaller brand designers and we use that fabric so it’s not wasted.”

Via Tyla’s stylists Katie Qian and Lee Trigg, Burns’ skirt was selected for the shoot.

“Having my design on Tyla was a wonderful experience and quite a surprise — it’s part of my Sante Mental Collection. That was around the idea of mixing nature with mental health and seeing how they intertwine. So the fact that she selected that, I was excited because we were able to put it on a different platform, other than a fashion runway, and communicate it with a larger audience.

“I started about 15 years ago and studied fashion design and business management with a specialisation in accounting. I’ve been working on my brand ever since. It morphed from Body by Cory, which sounded more athleisure, into Corii Burns.

“The LA Fashion Week collection I’m working on is a 16-piece collection based on the usual aesthetics I do, and we’ll tap more into mental health.

“In addition to dressing Kelly Rowland, Kylie Cantrall, Samara Cyn and Kiana Ledé at the recent Black & Iconic Soirée, we are also going to dress the female LA Lakers, working with different looks in the collection. We hope to be working with Tyla’s team again soon. I’ll keep you posted.”

TimesLIVE