Lykke Li on Tour Life and How Being a New Mom in Los Angeles Revitalized Her Personal Style

When I call Lykke Li to talk about So Sad So Sexy, her latest studio album, she’s shopping for a new look at Bergdorf Goodman in New York. In a matter of hours, the Swedish singer-songwriter will perform on The Late Night Show With Stephen Colbert at a studio about 10 blocks south of the upscale department store. Right now though, her attention is all wrapped up in a rack of overcoats. “I’ve been looking for a blazer for years, and I’m sad that they don’t make like, classic, ’80s-structured blazers anymore,” she says. “I want to look like an Italian man.”

Li has already been channeling the spirit of a distinguished, suit-wearing gent, at least in some aspects. She regularly flaunted the kind of made-to-measure tailoring you’d find on the street at Pitti Uomo for her latest tour of America. “I always create custom pieces for the stage,” says Li, who will embark on a European tour next month. The singer-songwriter’s performance style has also tended towards the cinematic. At the moment, she’s particularly inspired by Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect. “She wears the perfect trenchcoat, the perfect blazer, the perfect shirt with just lipstick and a gold chain,” she says, “that’s it.” Admittedly, Li’s uniform is more rock ’n’ roll, cut almost exclusively from shiny black PVC and veering between oversize proportions (think, Missy Elliott’s “supa dupa fly” overcoat in the video for “The Rain”) and a taut, city slicker silhouette. “The album for me felt very modern, so I wanted a very modern material with a classic silhouette,” she says, “call it sci-fi romanticism.”

Her latest album does sound particularly contemporary in comparison with the dusky sonic atmosphere that characterized her earlier work. “For the first time in my musical history, I’ve been inspired by where I’m at,” Li says. “Where all the other pieces I’ve made were always inspired by The Shangri-Las or something very analog, wishing I lived in that kind of world, now I think it’s a super interesting time. I actually like what’s being played,” she says, citing current hip-hop luminaries such as Kendrick Lamar. In spite of these influences, she remains a tried-and-true Swede. “I’m clearly still as much influenced by ABBA and Ace of Base as by a hip-hop song,” she says.

Her Swedish heritage has had some bearing on her sense of style, too. There’s an undeniable minimalist streak in her personal wardrobe, which has evolved drastically in the decade since she released her debut album—remember the futurist Joan of Arc aesthetic she pulled together for the video for “Get Some”? “Obviously when you’re young, you’re not that aware of what suits you or not,” says Li. “I was more trying to find my style and be more experimental, but for the last few years, my style is more like nonstyle: I want to wear things that disappear, things that are really classic and timeless,” Li says, offering up Phoebe Philo’s Céline and Jil Sander as examples.

Motherhood—an experience that is touched upon in the new WeTransfer mini-documentary on Li’s life—has certainly shifted her sense of style in a positive new direction as well. “I like my body now, against all odds,” says Li, who’s come to appreciate the allure of beautifully designed lingerie more than ever since the birth of her son Dion in 2016. “I realized I’m a woman. I’m not a girl anymore.” Her recent move to Los Angeles, where she lives with her child and partner, record producer Jeff Bhasker, has had a considerable effect on the way she dresses in her downtime. “In L.A. I like to dress like a Palm Springs divorcé—a man with a gold ring and a nice shirt, you know?” she explains. Towards the end of our conversation, Li finds a piece at Bergdorf’s that will fit right in with this new SoCal persona: “I’ve also been trying to find a bright red men’s cashmere sweater,” Li says. “And now I’m holding it in my hand and it’s on sale. I’m going to try it on when I hang up with you.”