THE ROMANTIC ROCKERS

Matt Barnes is a photographer, Lady Hayes is a designer, both are a little bit rock and roll—which suits Coco and Goldie just fine

By Sarah Liss | Portrait by Vanessa Heins | April 9, 2018

Matt Barnes remembers not just the time and place, but the precise outfit his wife, Shelley “Lady” Hayes, was wearing when his heart first skipped a beat. “It was a teal Betsey Johnson dress,” he recalls dreamily. “And it was pretty cool to meet the designer of that piece when Betsey Johnson became a client.” For Barnes, a photographer who’s snapped the likes of Drake and Buffy Saint-Marie, and Hayes, a designer and musician who creates fairy tale–calibre flower crowns for weddings and artists like Ariana Grande and Lights, style speaks volumes. “A drag queen once said I look like Little Bo Peep meets Janis Joplin,” says Hayes, “which is exactly me: fine bone china and rock and roll.” She’s passed that aesthetic boldness down to their two daughters, Goldie and Coco. “I thought I could make Goldie into a mini-me,” Barnes says, “and dress her in vintage jackets.” He smiles. “Turns out she won’t wear anything she doesn’t want to wear. She’s got a vision.”

Their Current Obsessions

Levi’s
Barnes: “I have tons of jeans—probably 60 pairs. But there’s essentially only one brand in my collection: Levi’s.”

Vintage pink silk dress
Hayes: “I stepped on it during a photo shoot and made a big hole, so I had to buy it. But I love it.”

Rocker boots
Hayes: “I was on the waiting list forever for leather boots from Spell and the Gypsy Collective. Since they came, I’ve worn them like crazy.”