It’s A Sin, The Channel 4 Series Everyone’s Talking About, Is Already Influencing Our Wardrobes

It might only be February, but the small screen has done us proud, delivering a future style icon whose joyful approach to getting dressed is already influencing our wardrobes. It’s A Sin, Channel 4’s new drama from Russell T Davies, has already broken records - the streaming service announced that the straight-to-box-set series had received 6.5 million views as of February 2 - and won five-star reviews for the very human handling of its subject matter: the beginning of the AIDS crisis in 1980s London, and how the growing fear and misinformation affects the lives of three gay men and their community.

And according to global search platform Lyst, Roscoe Babatunde, played by Omari Douglas, is the one we want to dress like. The opening episode shows Babatunde, a builder whose God-fearing parents are at their wits' end with the fact that he’s ‘fallen into the pit of sodomy’, at the centre of a family prayer session. His sister, knowing that their extended family is arriving to help ship him back to Nigeria, begs him to quietly flee while they’re all downstairs praying for his soul. He does abscond, but, without giving too much away, in the bravest and most gloriously flamboyant fashion that sets the tone for the series.

His style choices borrow from the greatest camp icons of modern history: David Bowie, with his skin-tight shirts that swooped to the navel, and Prince, the master of ceremonies when it came to peacocking personal style. As Babatunde leaves the construction site to work behind a bar, his wardrobe reflects the age of self-expression that the ‘80s ushered in. He wears string vests tucked into bleached jeans, studded chokers and chains laced around his neck, and striped tees that have been slashed to expose his sculpted arms and matched with marine-coloured eyeshadow.

And viewers, stuck at home during the pandemic, are watching and shopping. According to Lyst, searches for acid-wash jeans have jumped 60%, while searches for chokers have increased by 32% over the past two weeks, and page views for sleeveless T-shirts by 29% over the same period.

Of course there's one thing that money can't buy - Babatunde's charisma. For that, you'll have to watch It's A Sin.

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