As usual, the Love Island villa has been bursting at the seams with drama this year. There was the longstanding feud between Jess and Harriet who were caught in a bitter battle for the affections of Ronnie and his inexplicable hairline. Then, of course, there was Joey’s beef with — well — pretty much everyone who wasn’t Sean.
But the journeys of the outfits told a very different story. In fact, this season, there were a few ‘fits that seemed to make their way around practically everyone in the villa as the girls swapped their clothes as if they were not feuding reality stars but teenage sisters sharing a closet.
There have been a few outfits that have appeared on our screens again and again. The cobalt blue scoop neck maxi dress from Zara, for instance has been giving us deja vu, having been worn by Matilda, Jess and Uma. (And, by the way, it’s currently on sale for £5.99.) Then there was the very beachy plunge maxi dress by Jaded London, which has been worn by Uma, Grace, Matilda and Harriett.
The question is, why all the outfit sharing? Isn’t eBay sponsoring the show and showering the islanders in pre-loved treasures? Well, yes — at least to an extent. Apparently, there weren’t that many clothes to go around. And although the islanders did bring some of their own clothes into the villa, they weren’t always allowed to wear them.
ITV
“We had no clothes, 90 percent of our stuff strobed [when the cameras flicker in response to patterned clothing] to the point where we said, ‘eBay – can you find us clothes?’ We were told by the voice of God [the producers] that we needed our own fashion – but we had nothing. We all just re-wore the same outfits,” islander Jess White told OK!.
In fact, sometimes, they may have to reuse a fellow islander’s outfit in order to keep to the evening’s dress code. “The night of the Casa recoupling, Maya was wearing red. Emma [Milton] and Mimii [Ngulube] wanted to wear red but they couldn’t,” she said. “They thought it might be a strobing situation but we now know it’s because Maya was wearing red.”
She added, “Another night, we weren’t allowed to wear black and that’s when she came in wearing black. Obviously, the moment is all about Maya so we need to make sure she’s looking her best. If you’re told you can’t wear red for anybody, it’s got to be for her because she’s so stunning.”
It sounds like the Love Island girlies shared their clothes out of necessity rather than a profound sense of sisterhood. But honestly, it’s still kind of cute to see them sharing. Plus, as Love Island continues to make its push to promote more eco-conscious shopping habits, we can only commend the islanders for willing to re-wear a few ‘fits.