Beyoncé, Zendaya, & Miley Cyrus Can't Stop Wearing This Unsung ’80s Designer
The late designer's button-strewn designs are remerging among the celebrity set.
Patrick Kelly, the American-born designer whose rule-breaking designs shocked Parisian fashion, is once again getting his due. The late Kelly’s signature creations are making their way back into the fashion ether of late, thanks in large part to some heavy-hitting celebrities picking from his archives—Miley Cyrus, Beyoncé, and Zendaya chief among them.
A Mississippi-native, Kelly moved to Paris in the early 1980s at the behest of the legendary supermodel, Pat Cleveland. He began selling his designs on the streets, but it wasn’t long until he was a fixture of the city’s fashion calendar, showing collections alongside the likes of Yves Saint Laurent, Claude Montana, and Azzedine Alaïa. Kelly, who grew up in Jim Crow, broke barriers in the industry, bringing a Southern charm and exuberance to the very rigid world of Paris fashion. But his career, cut short after he passed away due to complications from AIDS in 1990, has often been overlooked in the history books. But like many unsung fashion greats of yesteryear, Kelly is having a much-deserved moment in the spotlight.
Most recent to the Kelly-aissance was Miley Cyrus. The singer, out in Paris promoting her new album, Something Beautiful, wore one of Kelly’s most iconic dresses: a body-con dress from Kelly’s landmark fall 1989 show. Fittingly, the stretch piece featured silver buttons stitched into the shape of the Eiffel Tower.
A few months prior, Beyoncé revisited the same fall collection for a Destiny’s Child reunion. The Cowboy Carter star slipped on a black mini dress emblazoned with large, gold buttons. The design detail seen on Cyrus and Beyoncé’s dresses was a signature of Kelly’s work—an ode to his grandmother, who stitched mismatched buttons to his shirts growing up.
At the 2025 Met Gala after parties, Zendaya proved her status as the Queen of vintage in a burgundy dress and shawl from the late designer. It was a sweet nod to this year’s “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” theme, which honored Black fashion in all its forms.
Vintage dressing has never been more popular in Hollywood than it is now, but there’s something special about all these stars giving Kelly his long overdue flowers. Yes, the John Galliano-era Diors are great. So are the Tom Ford for Gucci moments and all those ultra-rare McQueen pieces. And while Kelly’s designs always told a story, those stories are finally getting the audience they deserve.
