This year’s Love Island contestants will wear clothes from a shared wardrobe packed with designer items, the show’s stylist has revealed.
The popular dating series is set to return to the small screen on 6 June, with ITV announcing the initial 11 contestants on Monday.
Aside from a new villa location – still on the Spanish Balearic island of Majorca – viewers can expect to see a difference in the islanders’ fashion picks.
The TV show has famously partnered with popular fast fashion retailers such as I Saw It First and Missguided in the past, and even spawned the newest creative director of PrettyLittleThing (Molly-Mae Hague).
It has departed from tradition for its eighth series – choosing eBay as its fashion partner and hiring celebrity stylist Amy Bannerman to source the islanders’ wardrobes.
At a press event on Tuesday 31 May, Bannerman revealed a selection of standout pieces set to go into the villa from a long list of designers including Gucci, Versace, Moschino, Jacquemus and Dior.
In a bid to steer the female contestants away from the “samey, colourful, very tight dresses” seen on previous seasons, Bannerman says she has presented them with a collection that “blurs the lines of gendered dressing”.
An oversized men’s Ralph Lauren shirt has been turned into a dress, tightened at the waist with a Moschino belt. Meanwhile the men will be dressed in airy, sheer fabrics in lighter colours from Calvin Klein, Givenchy and Prada.
“It’s really exciting to be seeing brands like Jacquemus going into the villa, and I think islanders are also very excited about the fact that they get to wear designer pieces,” Bannerman said.
The wardrobe features a number of standout vintage designer pieces, which Bannerman predicts may lead to tussles between islanders when it comes to deciding who gets to wear what.
There is a floor-length red and black polka dot Moschino gown featuring a sweetheart neckline and large ruffled sleeves. The dress currently retails for upwards of £6,000.
“I found this last week,” Bannerman said of the Moschino gown. “And I’m imagining [the islanders] going out for tapas and looking quite extra. Hopefully we will see that on screen.”
Another eye-catching look is a vintage co-ord from Blumarine. A low-rise midi skirt and long-sleeved crop top have both been crafted from a sheer, animal print fabric with beadwork and embroidery trim. “Why get the new y2k when you can have the original?” Bannerman commented.
She has also managed to source a Versace dress from the Italian designer’s spring/summer 2000 collection, in the same print as the iconic gown Jennifer Lopez wore on the Grammy’s red carpet.
Then there’s a sleeveless denim Balmain dress with gold buttons and distressed detailing, and a red Jean Paul Gaultier co-ord which she revealed she managed to get for just £40.
“It’s really sexy but it’s covered. It’s sexy in a different way; it’s form fitting but not very short and it doesn’t show cleveage,” Bannerman said of the Balmain look.
Other coveted names going into the villa include Christopher Kane, Herve Leger and an Alaïa dress which Bannerman bought on the shopping platform for less than £300.
“This was such a steal,” Bannerman she said of the figure-hugging black mini dress. “The photographs of it were really bad so we got it for a real bargain.”
Describing the islanders’ reactions to the pieces, Bannerman said: “There was one girl who was screaming and shouting out the names of all the designers. They just couldn’t believe it. It was a great reaction.”
