Dua Lipa's daring top is made of nothing but buttons
Dua Lipa stepped out in London in a see-through Lou de Bètoly halter top crocheted from 740 collected vintage buttons. The ocean-toned piece—blues, teals, and purples on open mesh—turned upcycled knickknacks into wearable art, paired with black trousers for a brief Instagram-documented trip that instantly went viral.
Key Takeaways
- Dua Lipa posted a brief London look featuring a Lou de Bètoly couture halter crocheted with 740 collected vintage buttons.
- Designer Odély Teboul built the open-weave top from childhood button stockpiles in blues, grays, purples, and pearlescent tones.
- She balanced the sheer piece with sleek black trousers, minimal jewelry, and an 18K rose gold Bulgari Serpenti Seduttori watch.
- The top sits in Lou de Bètoly’s Berlin Fashion Week collection made from tens of thousands of washed and sorted buttons.
- The same atelier has also dressed Beyoncé and Charli XCX in upcycled couture.
For fans tracking celebrity style through a nostalgia then-and-now lens, the moment lands because it is both brand-new and deeply archival: brand-new on her feed, archival in every button.
What exactly did Dua Lipa wear in London?
According to Page Six and W Magazine, Dua Lipa shared an Instagram carousel captioned “London, very briefly,” showing a daring halter-neck top built almost entirely from loose buttons on open-weave mesh. The designer, Lou de Bètoly, confirmed on Instagram that the piece was “crocheted with 740 collected buttons.”
Yahoo Entertainment described the same look as a custom see-through Lou de Betoly top: blue, teal, purple, and pearlescent buttons forming a shimmering ocean-toned pattern across her torso. The crochet structure left her back open while hugging her upper body like wearable art.
W Magazine added that the multicolored design mixes gray, blue, and purple “pebbles” strung with winding navy yarn. The buttons—all different sizes and hues—are knickknacks designer Odély Teboul has been amassing since she was a kid in the 1990s.
She paired the vibrant halter with sleek, low-rise black tailored trousers so the top stayed the clear focal point. Page Six noted she accessorized with an 18K rose gold Bulgari Serpenti Seduttori watch priced at $39,800, plus a few stacked rings. Yahoo reported a delicate gold watch and said celebrity stylist Lorenzo Posocco curated the ensemble, with long center-parted hair, warm bronzer, glowing skin, and a nude lip.
Why does a button top matter for Dua Lipa’s style story?
Dua Lipa is no stranger to revealing fashion, and this look extends that reputation without relying on sequins or crystal alone. Page Six recalled her exposed-thong experiments, a totally see-through crystal mesh dress at the 2023 Barbie premiere, and a sequined dress open down each side. The button top feels like the next chapter: sheer, handmade, and conversation-starting.
Yahoo framed the choice as boundary-pushing wardrobe work that blurs fashion and art, with upcycled materials and hand-crochet dominating contemporary high fashion. Lou de Bètoly specializes in turning discarded items into luxurious garments. By wearing that craftsmanship in a casual London post, Lipa put independent, artisanal technique on the same stage as stadium-ready glamour.
Timing also sharpened the buzz. Page Six reported the London stop came only a day after she posted Italy photos with friends, including a night at the opera in a semi-sheer black Ashi Studio gown laced from neck to ankles. Her husband Callum Turner was not pictured on those travels; the couple married in May in Chanel Haute Couture and later shared an Italian honeymoon heavily on Instagram. Turner recently told Esquire their wedding was “the most beautiful day of my life.”
So the button top is not an isolated stunt. It sits inside a stretch of high-visibility dressing—honeymoon glamour, opera lace, then a 740-button halter—that keeps Dua Lipa’s off-duty posts as closely watched as red-carpet moments.
Who is Lou de Bètoly, and how was the top made?
W Magazine’s report is the clearest origin story. Odély Teboul’s most recent collection, shown at Berlin Fashion Week in January, followed a self-imposed rule: work only with trinkets gathered over the years. The 37-look presentation used tens of thousands of buttons from her personal collection—washed, sorted, and crocheted into sculptural garments. The top Lipa wore used 740 of them.
Other pieces in that collection included bags and vintage undergarments centuries old. That couture approach to repurposing antiquated objects fits Lipa’s texturally rich taste, W Magazine argued. It also explains why the top reads as both fragile and dense: every fastener is a found object, held by yarn into a wearable lattice.
The atelier’s celebrity reach goes beyond one pop star. Per W Magazine, Lou de Bètoly has provided custom looks for Beyoncé—who performed in a gilded bodysuit made from old cellphones and charger cords—and Charli XCX, who wore a cardigan and pencil skirt fashioned from scraps of tattered black yarn for The Moment premiere. In that company, Lipa’s button top is less a one-off gimmick and more part of a rising taste for beautifully bizarre upcycled couture.
Yahoo summarized the cultural pitch cleanly: Lipa transformed ordinary objects into an iconic fashion moment by championing independent designers and artisanal techniques. Fans echoed the affection in comments; Page Six quoted one follower writing, “740 more reasons to love her.”
How does this look connect then-and-now fashion nostalgia?
Buttons are the most domestic of fashion leftovers—the spare set in a sewing tin, the childhood jar of mismatched plastics and metals. Teboul’s decision to save them since the 1990s turns private nostalgia into public spectacle. When Dua Lipa wears that archive on an open-back halter in London, the “then” is a designer’s lifelong scrap collection; the “now” is viral celebrity style.
That bridge is why the story travels. It is not only about sheer fabric or a famous name. It is about craft you can understand at a glance: 740 buttons, crocheted, no lining to hide the labor. Page Six, Yahoo, and W Magazine all converge on the same number and the same designer credit, which is rare clarity in celebrity fashion coverage.
Keep an eye on whether more stars pull from the same Berlin atelier, and whether Lipa returns to the collection beyond this brief London stop. For now, the record is simple and sourced: Dua Lipa’s daring going-out top was literally made of buttons—740 of them—and the internet noticed.