Look of the Week: Lily Allen is a wayward nun, cigarette and all

Look of the Week: Lily Allen is a wayward nun, cigarette and all

There are no saints in the aftermath of a complicated breakup, and in one of the visuals accompanying Lily Allen’s latest album, “West End Girl” — interpreted as a post-mortem on her marriage to actor David Harbour — she assumes the role of the wayward nun, donning the familiar black and white habit to take a smoke break.

The surprise album, which Allen released last Friday, can be taken as a play-by-play of the downfall of her five-year marriage, which began with Las Vegas nuptials in September 2020 after the couple met on celebrity dating app Raya. Though Allen did tell Vogue the album is only “inspired” by the relationship and not “all gospel.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY3GV-yUMmk

Since its release, listeners have been piecing together a bigger picture of their relationship and its fallout, referencing the lyrics with years of reports and rumors. Also in the crossfire: the couple’s divisive Architectural Digest feature in early 2023, featuring their eclectic Brooklyn townhouse, which is now being retrospectively eyed as a warning sign. (“Perhaps The David Harbour-Lily Allen Home Is Worth Wrecking,” pop culture critic Hunter Harris penned as a Substack headline at the time.)

Blessedly, the album visuals are striking not in their maximalism, but their quieter reverie. Throughout the images, Allen unsettles Catholic iconography: In one looped video, she clasps her hands in prayer, wearing the blue and red of Mother Mary; on the album’s cover, painter Nieves González depicts the singer as an updated Baroque icon, stoic in polka dots and chiaroscuro lighting.

Cre: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/30/style/lily-allen-nun-west-end-girl-lotw