Swedish hip hop artist Cleo’s new stage looks are made from upcycled horse trotting gear

Swedish hip hop artist Nathalie Missaoui, better known as Cleo, often takes the stage in bold looks that exist at the intersection of streetwear and clubwear, tinged in nostalgia. The looks for her forthcoming summer tour – graphic, throwback pieces in sporty, technical fabrics – are no different. What is different, however, is their origin: the capsule collection of showpieces are upcycled from old horse trotting gear.

“There's something incredibly satisfying about remakes. Taking something old that carries a history, transforming it into something modern, into a new context and giving it new life,” says Cleo. Collaborating with Monika Kichau, the stylist behind many of the artist’s previous show and album looks, Cleo created a capsule of mix-and-match pieces – a bikini, a skirt, a show-stopping coat, a cropped jacket and track pants – to take her through all of her summer tour dates. The garments blend a certain Y2K hip-hop sensibility with on-point cowboy aesthetics. Or, as Cleo puts it: “the Swedish version of a cowboy”.

As is often the case with upcycling unusual material, the trotting gear offered both challenges and inspiration. Collected by a team at ATG (owned by the Swedish Trotting Association, ATG puts on horse races in Sweden), the old racing uniforms each told a story of their own. “The gear came from both men and women who have been competing in this sport and wanted to contribute with their old gear that they had emotional and nostalgic memories of wearing,” says Cleo, noting that some of the pieces date back to the 1980s.

Related: All the It-girls who flocked to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour show in Stockholm

“There are so many inspiring details in the drivers uniforms,” says Kichau, who enlisted designer Freja Wesik and seamstress Elin Arvidsson to bring the pieces together. “For instance, the idea of the fur-trimmed bikini came out when I saw the triangular shape on the trotting champion Torbjörn Jansson’s overall sleeves.” Elsewhere, faux fur forms a sort of modern cowboy chap. The extra baggy pants are realised by sewing four pairs of trotting pants together. The standout piece, however, is the show-stopping maxi coat, which can be unzipped to transform into a sharp-shouldered cropped jacket.

The project – which culminated in a photoshoot co-starring a very photogenic horse – is sort of a full-circle moment for Cleo. “I went to a riding school when I was younger! And several of my friends had horses at home, so it was close at hand,” she says. “But have not dealt with horses in adulthood much at all. So it was really fun to reconnect with my riding skills during our photoshoot.”