Two Cats And A Pride Of Kardashians
Yep, it was The First Monday In May! And that means Met Gala, peasants...
You know its fashun when this is not the first time that Jared Leto has held his prosthetic head aloft on the red carpet. You know it’s the Met Gala when that same headless outfit takes four stylists to primp his cat’s tail for photographers. The Met Gala - a night scrupulously scripted by its fash overlord, Anna Wintour, in honour of The Met Costume Institute’s opening night. This year’s exhibition? Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty.
It’s a controversial choice because Karl was legendary for not mincing his words on everything from Me Too to body positivity. As curator Andrew Bolton neatly puts it though: “We did not want to emphasize Lagerfeld the man, rather we wanted to focus on Lagerfeld the designer. His works, not his words.” Alrighty then, Andrew, let’s go!
What Karl did so brilliantly during his career was create a lexicon of fashion iconography for both Karl Lagerfeld The Man and Chanel. And this made dressing to theme for this year’s Met Gala a rather simple, glamorous affair. It also meant that you entirely deserved to be plonked on the Worst Dressed List if you didn’t even bother. Ahem, Kylie Jenner. She wore a scarlet and baby blue gown that said literally nothing.
Karl’s visual brand is super strong – he pretty much caricatured himself to the point that you could buy his likeness on Fendi key-rings and emblazoned onto Lagerfeld scarves… Stark white hair, low beribboned ponytail, dark black sunnies, black (fingerless) gloves, black denim, white shirt, high collar, black tie or cravat, bejewelled pin, necklace, fan, cat.
Ahhh yes, Choupette – the white Birman cat that Karl Lagerfeld adored. Of course, she popped up on the carpet. Well, not the original feline – she is semi-retired thanks to her inheritance from Karl. Jared Leto channelled Choupette. He is, incidentally, playing Karl in a biopic of the designer’s life so I’d imagine rather huge pressure to pull off the ultimate red carpet arrival. Not saying a giant fluffy would have been my choice but, jirre, it scored viral points by the bajillion. Kicking off with Lizzo who was its first kitty-hug of the night – and she has no clue who she’s greeting – ending with Jared removing his head to great applause and finally Aubrey Plaza wearing said head at the afterparty. What a time to be alive!
Anyway! Let’s talk fashion iconography which is fash speak for “Why all the pearls?”
Why all the pearls? Coco Chanel believed that jewellery should be worn not hidden away, even when that jewellery came from her lovers. Yep, her lovers, amongst them the Duke of Westminster and hence all the interlocking Cs on lamp posts around the London borough of Westminster, would gift her pearls and she would wear them with everything from hunting jerseys to evening gowns.
Justine Picardie, who wrote her fashion biography points out: “The Duke of Westminster’s pearls and emeralds [were] slung over tweeds and plain woollen knits, in an insouciant disregard for tradition—and in her apparently effortless ability to persuade rich women to follow suit.”
She famously said: “A woman should have ropes and ropes of pearls.” And what she further did in this respect is elevate costume jewellery. Chanel was the designer who created giant sized pearly baubles so that every woman could be bejewelled. “The point of jewellery,” she said, “isn’t to make a woman look rich but to adorn her—not the same thing.” So that’s a tick for pearls and layering and a tick for oversized baubles and costume jewellery. It’s also a tick for her iconic Maltese Cross double matching cuffs. Saw those on the carpet, not just on the gals but on the dudes.
The Duke Of Verdura originally designed Chanel’s iconic Maltese Cross Cuffs—a white enamel cuff set with cabochons and semi-precious stones in a gold cross. He collaborated with Chanel on her jewellery collections before leaving for the US and starting his own jewellery maison, still in existence today as Verdura. These have become another legendary piece of the Chanel collection and story. Please note not just the cuff on Rihanna, nu the attention to detail. -those are camellias on her manicure. But we’ll get to those.
First, let’s talk colours and fabrics and LBDs and Chanel jackets. Coco Chanel fell in love with tweed, allegedly when she began wearing the tweed hunting jackets of her lover. Yes, the Duke of Westminster is at it again! After borrowing sportswear from her British beau, Chanel realized the comfy fabric would lend itself well to her designs and created the perfect antidote to Christian Dior’s nipped-waisted New Look.
Chanel’s passion for feminizing tweed by implementing new colours and materials to the then-underused fabric took the fash world by storm, inspiring other couturiers to follow suit. After first working with Scottish mills, she eventually moved fabric production of tweed to France where she experimented with blends – everything from wool to cellophane to give it the lighter, more glam, more luxey look and feel we know as Chanel tweed today. Hello icon. Heaven.
Camellias. The flower associated with all things Chanel, thanks, yes, to another lover. This time Boy Capel. Legend has it that after being gifted these flowers, she started pinning silk versions onto her lapels and in her hair. Today, the collection includes silk brooches, fine jewellery, leather applique and packaging, but you’ll also spy it engraved onto buttons and shirts. And its been used as a backdrop to one of Virginie Viard’s recent Chanel collections. The red carpet saw it appliquéd onto capes and ballgowns - hello Rihanna, Diddy, Bad Bunny - pinned to cravats and aced into hair. Unless you were Sienna Miller and used your spare diamond necklace as a hairpiece.
Loved this obvs! What else I loved? The celebrities who trawled through the Karl Lagerfeld archives? Dua Lipa and Penelope Cruz in such iconic (are you bored of me overusing this word yet?) Chanel bridal pieces that they are considered some of the most beautiful gowns in existence? But also Giselle Bundchen, Naomi Campbell and Margot Robbie in Chanel; Suki Waterhouse in Fendi, Olivia Wilde in Chloe… Yes, Karl Lagerfeld had a creative hand in all of these maisons before eventually settling at Chanel. And then there was Nicole Kidman, who seems to always look like she’s just scrambled out of bed after a realllly good sesh with husband, Keith Urban, but nonetheless showed up in the Chanel gown she wore for her 2004 commercial for the house of Chanel. Hello meta moment.
Did you have a fave of the night or could you not be arsed to care about such frivolities as the art of fash? I did most of my deep diving wrapped up in a cardi and socks, so hardly should be espousing any grooming advice on these highbrow masses. Suffice it to say that I thought:
The Kardash Klan all looked meh this year. Kim’s Beads were actually real pearls and apparently they were falling off as she skittered around. North West, she told the press, was on hand to collect them as she went.
Anne Hathaway’s Versace safety pins meets Chanel tweed and chains mash-up was very clever couture - thanks Donatella.
Eventhough Rihanna arrived half an hour before the END of the entire event, she still killed it.
That Jared Leto is 51, but looked 15.
That Pedro Pascal’s stylist should be shot - I know it’s Valentino but who puts such a handsome MAN in slicked back hair, red shorts and boots. With a coat. A sadist, that’s who.
And finally that the cockroach who became the unwitting star of the carpet should take a bow. Clearly no one in New York has even encountered a Parktown Prawn.