Addison Rae on Her Mermaid-Inspired Thom Browne CFDA Awards Look—And Her Halloween Costume

Allen and Rae tried a few different options before ultimately pairing the curve-hugging skirt with a signature gray Thom Browne corset that cinched Rae into an hourglass shape, and a strand of Mikimoto pearls, bringing new meaning to the term “office siren.” “It just felt perfect,” she says of the look. The skirt, which cascaded out from under Browne’s exquisite tailoring, reflected the light in such a way that Rae appeared to have just emerged from the water like a mermaid making her way onto land to live out the night as a human.

To bring the fantasy further into the real world, Rae worked with the legendary makeup artist Pat McGrath, who she calls a “visionary” with “an aquamarine heart,” to complement her bright blond beach waves. “Every look she creates speaks volumes, and she knows exactly how to make a girl feel beautiful,” Rae says.”I’m so lucky to work with her for these special moments.”

As for her accessories, Rae’s shell “purse” for the evening looked like she picked it up off the shore on the way to the awards show, and while it was not functional, it added to her ethereal aesthetic. “Dara’s mind works in mysteriously wonderful ways and she walked in and said, ‘I got a shell,’ and I was not sure what that meant exactly,” she says. “Then she pulled out this conch shell and it was just perfect.” Rae, leaning into the whimsy, playfully posed with it like a “shellphone” throughout the night.

The scene was redolent of Aquamarine, the charming 2006 film about friendship that bears the same name as Rae’s song, starring Sara Paxton as the titular mermaid alongside best friends JoJo, and Emma Roberts. “I had rewatched the movie probably for the thousandth time like a week before I went into the studio,” she says. Though the song is not entirely reflective of the film, Addison was inspired by what the word and the color could convey about her own journey of self-discovery. “I wanted to find what aquamarine meant to me,” she says. “It was just a perfect moment to reflect on my transformation and feeling comfortable in change, embracing it, and aligning with yourself, and really following your heart and your gut.”