Every year, on the first Monday in May, comes the most exclusive party of the year: The Met Gala. VogueEditor-In-Chief Anna Wintour hand-picks the creme-de-la-creme of the highest profile celebs — a coveted who’s who list of exciting new names and A-listers alike. Together, these celebs congregate at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art donning (literally) their Monday best.
On the surface, the Met Gala is a fundraising event hosted by Vogue to raise funds for the Met Museum’s Costume Institute. You have to be invited to attend (normally by a brand or by Anna herself), and what goes on inside the elusive Met Gala is one of fashion’s best-kept secrets. What happens at the Gala, truly stays at the Gala.
@metmuseum DYK: When garments enter The Met collection, they can no longer be worn on the human body. So how can we understand the movement and energy of these masterpieces of fashion? This May, explore 250 pieces from The Met’s Costume Institute collection in “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” opening to the public on May 10 and celebrated at the 2024 Met Gala on May 6. Join us to see them spring to life. 🌿 🌸 🌊 #ReawakeningFashion#TheMetGala♬ original sound – The Met
Today, the buzz around the 2024 Met Gala officially begins with the announcement of the theme: Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion. And, like with any Met Gala theme, this needs a bit of explanation.
What Does Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion Mean?
In collaboration with the Costume Institute, every Met Gala also comes with an exhibit at the Met that’s curated to emulate the year’s theme. This year, 250 rare items from the Costume Institute’s permanent collection will be featured — including designs from Schiaparelli, Dior, and Givenchy.
“Sleeping beauties” refers to the pieces that are so rare that they can only be worn once. Some of these “sleeping beauty” gowns, like an 1877 Charles Frederick Worth gown, will be shown via CGI and AI virtual showcasing.
It’s an all-encompassing theme spanning over 400 years of fashion. The exhibit itself will have three “zones” dedicated to land, sea, and sky, according to Andrew Bolton, Wendy Yu Curator in charge of the Costume Institute.
What Can We Expect People To Wear At The 2024 Met Gala?
While your mind may have gone straight to Disney’s Sleeping Beauty, the Met Gala is going to be leaning heavy into how fashion and nature coincide. These pieces on display have been sitting in the Met’s collection for eons, some can’t even be hung upright or they’ll disintegrate.
Since many of these clothing artifacts were made with natural materials (like a bodice made from peas in a pod), you will expect to see this mimicked in attendees’ attire. Sure, there will be 1800s-inspired gowns and lace appliques…but remember: nature is emphasized.
People are thinking of florals and birds, as the exhibit will feature both a black tulle dress embroidered with blackbirds and an Alexander McQueen jacket inspired by Alfred Hitchcocks’ The Birds. But everything nature has to offer — nothing’s off the table! We might see snakes and leaves and everything in between.
And while we don’t know the hosts, or the guests, quite yet…we’re looking forward to this theme and hope we can reawaken the excitement of the Met Gala after some lackluster showings in the past few years.
Hunter Schafer served surrealist haute couture in a hand-painted puzzle-piece dress on Nov. 5. While attending the “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” premiere in Berlin, Schafer had her own Katniss Everdeen–inspired grand entrance in a crochet midi dress that created the illusion of paint dripping down her body. Her stylist, Dara, completed the look with a pair of white pointed-toe pumps. While it didn’t catch fire, the outfit certainly caught our attention from all angles as Schafer strutted down the red carpet.
Inspired by the artist Lucian Freud, who specialized in figurative art, the dress is made up of mosaic-like pieces of painted paillettes embroidered on crochet netting. According to the designer’s website, the inventive piece is intended to be a trompe-l’oeil reproduction of a woman’s body. In addition to the melting effect along the sleeves and hemline, the look also features subtle rhinestone detailing on the edge of each irregularly shaped segment. The avant-garde ensemble, designed by Daniel Roseberry, first made its debut in Schiaparelli’s fall 2023 haute couture runway show.
Beautiful in its draping, its array of colors, and the way it moves down the red carpet, Schafer’s dress is a fantasy vision brought to life. The closer you look, the more you notice. From the rosette shapes along the chest to the dark red heart along the rib cage, each shade of pink, yellow, and orange appears to be a celebration of the human anatomy. Some celebrity outfits mesmerize us with their unique fabric choices and carefully placed cutouts; Schafer’s dress demands a double-take the way the Mona Lisa deserves a spot in the Louvre: to appreciate the beauty in every fine detail.
Though the outfit employs a couple of our favorite red carpet trends — the mock-neck design and the naked-illusion-dress silhouette — the finished product is unlike anything we’ve seen before. Needless to say, Schafer would certainly earn our vote in the Hunger Games.
Ahead, see Schafer’s showstopping puzzle-piece dress from all angles.
Last week, the fashion world was taken by surprise as Law Roach noisily retired from styling. The famed stylist is known for saving the fashion careers of many celebrities, pulling them out of tone-deaf, trendless outfits and into the world of serving absolute looks. If you’ve loved what a celeb is wearing, Law Roach probably styled them.
He’s the wizard who turned Zendaya into Cinderella for the Met Gala ( who also styles her boyfriend, Tom Holland), he’s the maven who re-branded Celine Dion’s style. But the fashion industry is both cutthroat and rarely without drama. Law took to Instagram to announce he was retiring for good, and that the industry had seemingly “won.”
But retirement can mean so many things. Tom Brady has retired from football twice now. So it’s safe to say that people have questions when it comes to Law Roach’s sudden retirement post.
Is Law Roach Retiring?
People love giving credit where credit is due – and as such, stylists have their very own fan bases. The Guardian likens this phenomenon to Rachel Zoe’s Zoe Bots, which spawned her own spinoff show and fame in her own right, and not just for styling Lindsay Lohan.
This just means Law Roach will be fine if he’s not styling everyone anymore – he’ll be sitting on a million Instagram followers and a networking catalog that most would kill for. He has some of the biggest names in Hollywood behind him like Zendaya herself. In other words, Law Roach probably isn’t going anywhere.
The dramatic, shady Insta post wasn’t Law stepping away from fashion altogether, as he told Vogue. And it most definitely isn’t due to the fact that Zendaya didn’t save him a front-row seat at Fashion Week this year – or that he asked Emma Stone to give up hers. Law Roach is taking his career into his own hands, far away from “the politics, the lies, and false narratives” that Roach credits for his retirement from celebrity styling.
“I just wanna breathe. I wanna fly. I wanna be happy,” Roach said. “I wanna figure other things out.”
Who Has Law Roach Styled?
His looks have been seen on Anne Hathaway, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ariana Grande, and Bella Hadid. Law has created a multi-million dollar empire styling clients for photoshoots and red carpet appearances, while collaborating with some of the biggest fashion houses in the world.
This year’s Oscars showcased Megan Thee Stallion, Hunter Schafer, Kerry Washington, Eve Jobs, and Hailee Steinfeld, all dressed by Roach. Most of which ranked as the most talked about looks of the evening – so who’s going to style them now?
Law Roach and Zendaya at the Met Gala 2019
David Fisher/Shutterstock
And while each and every look was a slay and a serve in their own respect, no two looks were similar. In fact, each look was praised in their own ways, for different reasons. It’s something Law Roach talks about with The Cut.
“It’s always the narrative of, “Oh, he’s never gonna treat you the way he treats Zendaya. You’re gonna get what she doesn’t want.” And that’s not true, because none of my clients ever look the same. Like, I don’t use edits.
I don’t walk around with suitcases of edits that Zendaya didn’t want and offer ’em to other people. It’s always those narratives, and I’ve lost a bunch of clients that I really care for and really wanted to work with because of the gatekeepers.”
Law even styled Priyanka Chopra-Jonas, who told People that a stylist (seemingly Roach) informed her she wasn’t “sample sized.” While Law Roach told The Cut that this conversation didn’t happen in the way she framed it, it was an example of the false narratives he cited in his retirement.
What’s Next For Law Roach?
More recently, Roach was spotted making his modeling debut for Boss. Law Roach strutted the runway in good company amongst Pamela Anderson, Naomi Campbell, and Precious Lee. He told Vogue,
“I don’t think I have any challenges. I’m a fucking diva! Even if they were to put me on a 10-inch high heel I would be walking that runway. The little gay boy in me—I’m living out a dream! The hair, the makeup, the look they chose for me: it’s literally a dream!”
There’s no Fashion Week like Paris Fashion Week. Maybe it’s thanks to French fashion houses like Dior, Hermès, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton that go above and beyond for each runway show, outdoing themselves and each other, year after year.
And if you’ve been paying attention, maybe you, too have been wondering what everyone packed for Paris FW, and who landed the likes of Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid on their runways. Regardless, Paris determines the ultimate trends of the upcoming seasons.
We cycle through so many decades of trends that it feels like we’re already back to romanticizing the 2010’s – something we escaped only a few years ago when it was still that decade. Look no further than the rise of chevron recently: both ominous and harrowing that we’re cycling so quickly.
However, this Paris Fashion Week gave me a bit of hope with all of the trends emerging. We aren’t going insane with huge pops of colors, but sticking to neutrals yet again. Camels, taupes, cocoas, and blacks will still dominate the colorways. But what else?
It’s time to talk about Paris. The future trends, the standout brands and the celebrity fashion that we love to chew apart with our friends in group chats.
The Trends, According To WWD
Balmain model
Gil-Gonzalez Alain/ABACA/Shutterstock
The world has fallen in love with a neutral palette, and it looks like it’ll stay that way moving forward. Fashion houses stuck with monochromatic moments, but Women’s Wear Daily notes that red is the pop of color brands like Balmain and Valentino chose.
Perhaps the best news received from the runway is that skirts are very much in. And lengths don’t matter at all. No longer does the micro-mini low-rise skirt dominate the market, maxis and midis have been invited back to the party. Which means there’s more of a variety in outfits varying from person-to-person.
One of the biggest messages from Paris Fashion Week 2023 is that we’re back to dressing to impress. Less of a focus on your classic oversized streetwear – looking polished and put together in tailored skirt sets is the move of the summer.
It’s back to the classics for our favorite brands. Designs are looking sleeker and elegant once again. There’s less of an avant-garde “wow” factor, but the simplicity speaks for itself. Almost everyone who attended Paris FW talked about a tailored look: suits, pinstripes, blazers, vests. The revival of the pencil skirt is among us, ladies.
According to Victoria Dartigues, merchandising director of fashion and accessories for Samaritaine Paris Pont-Neuf, almost every fashion line had an oversized fur coat of sorts. That’s right, femme fatale fashion is here and ready to rule 2023.
Let’s Talk About Loewe
Emily Ratajkowski for Loewe
Scott Garfitt/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
Women’s Wear Daily credits Loewe as being the It Girl of Paris Fashion Week this year.
“Victoria Dartigues, Samaritaine Paris Pont-Neuf’s merchandising director fashion and accessories, called it a “demonstration of pure beauty.” Many cited Jonathan Anderson’s inventive use of confetti cubes inside the Château de Vincennes as one of the best show sets of the week and the brand’s new tote was ticked off as a “must have” on many lists.”
The show itself nodded to fashion trends throughout the world: a wallpaper-esque stick-on sweater that could only be worn once was a major dig at the fast fashion world in which most people often only wear the garments one time before throwing them in the trash.
They played with visuals through fabrics like vacuum-molded leather to look like plastic and images of dresses on t-shirt dresses made of satin. The show was conducted in a brightly lit room, contrasting most fashion houses who prefer nighttime shows often shrouded in darkness for added drama and flare.
EmRata’s leaf shirt, for example, is all about playful textures and out-of-the-box thinking. It’s taking camp to a new level by playing with fabrics you already know and transforming them into something that almost makes you uncomfortable to look at.
All Eyes On The Front Row
Balenciaga’s show
Steve Wood/Shutterstock
The front row of these shows are always telling. It’s a conglomeration of highly regarded celebrities who are often representing the brand. Think Kylie Jenner with Schiaparelli and Anya Taylor-Joy with Dior.
In the wake of a monumental scandal, Balenciaga under Demna tried to pick up the pieces. Their show featured a runway without the famous Balenciaga logo emblazoned anywhere, and also without celebrities in the front row. While this collection was the favorite of few, its simplicity shows Demna’s message: fashion doesn’t need to be a show.
Dauphinette designer Olivia Cheng collaborated with Yukiko Morita of Pampshade on a playful “BAG-UETTE” bag for spring 2023.
SOPHIA SCHRANK
Broccoli dangling from a chain. Sickly-sweet pearlescent flowers. A miniature house hanging from a handle. These random assortments of art objects are the latest lineup of conversation pieces in fashion. Just look at Gucci’s mesmerizing Gizmo and crystal-covered bear charms—not meant to be adored from afar or sit on a shelf, but to be worn with expressive impact. Novelty is thriving.
Lately, fashion is being filtered through an absurdist lens, and in a world that seems to have hit peak luxury, nothing feels more joyful than wearing a bag that doesn’t take itself so seriously. Who would have thought the most in-demand clutch of the season would resemble a literal pigeon? Designer Jonathan Anderson’s 3D-printed version of the city-dwelling bird has been seen on street-style stars and donned by one of the most iconic bag collectors in TV-character history: Carrie Bradshaw, in the upcoming season of And Just Like That…. Trading her Fendi Baguette for a pigeon feels apropos for our surrealist times. (Thousands of Carrie fans agree: The bag has been sold out for months, and is currently on preorder.)
A heart-and-lock motif at Moschino spring 2023.
Christina Fragkou
“I only like to approach bags in a very literal or humorous manner,” says Hillary Taymour of downtown-darling label Collina Strada. “We had a broccoli tee in the collection, and I randomly thought it would be so cute to be holding actual broccoli.” So she sent exactly that down her spring 2023 runway, set in a lush Brooklyn greenway that houses a monarch butterfly pre-serve. “Apparently you can Postmates broccoli,” she says, “and I was able to have a bag done by 3 A.M. in time for fittings the next morning.”
“We’re in an era of extremes in fashion. On the one hand, we have the rise of elevated basics and enduring everyday bags; on the other, we’re looking to fashion to escape, embracing maximalism, creativity, and novelty,” explains Rickie De Sole, women’s designer fashion and editorial director at Nordstrom, who adds that Collina Strada’s crochet bags, Simone Rocha’s acrylic heart-shaped minaudières, and Moschino’s and Anya Hindmarch’s playful art-object totes are in high demand during these wild times. The luxury resale company Rebag attributes the craze to special collaborations that can often yield unconventional shapes. “Their one-off nature makes them great collectible items that double as investments,” says chief narketing officer Elizabeth Layne. She cites the Louis Vuitton x NBA Ball in Basket bag—which, per the company’s 2022 Clair Report, retains an average of 147 percent of its retail value at resale—as well as the Gucci and Disney Mickey Mouse shoulder bag (123 percent).
Inspired by a scene from Eyes Wide Shut, Puppets and Puppets designer Carly Mark brought back the landline.
Courtesy of the designer.
Their one-off nature makes them great collectible items that double as investments.”
In the bustling streets of downtown Manhattan, it’s become impossible not to notice extremely playful bags from another brand: Puppets and Puppets. The label’s pièce de résistance is a black leather rectangular bag embellished with a surreally lifelike cookie smack-dab in the middle of it. “We live among these everyday objects, often food items, and I see them and think that they’d look great on a bag,” says designer Carly Mark, who reconfigured the humble cookie bag with a plethora of new oddities, from bananas to landline telephones (the latter inspired by a scene in Eyes Wide Shut with Nicole Kidman). “I try it, and some of them work and some of them don’t.” Mark collaborates with her friend, artist Margalit Cutler, to make resin look-alikes of inanimate objects for the bags. “We did a Cosmic Brownie bag, because I’ve lived in New York for 16 years and I’d walk into a bodega and see those Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies, and there’s something so visually appealing about them,” she says.
A surrealist Schiaparelli design.
Kuba Dabrowski
While a Chanel flap bag will always convey status, an accessory that looks like something else completely gives way to the kind of DGAF attitude that makes fashion interesting right now. Especially when it’s an object that feels so unusually average, like a pigeon or that aforementioned bodega staple. The everyday becomes absurd—and you can take it with you wherever you go.
This article appears in the March 2023 issue of ELLE.
Kristen Bateman is a contributing editor at Harper’s Bazaar. Her first fashion article was published in Vogue Italia during her junior year of high school. Since then, she has interned and contributed to WWD, Glamour, Lucky, i-D, Marie Claire and more. She created and writes the #ChicEats column and covers fashion and culture for Bazaar. When not writing, she follows the latest runway collections, dyes her hair to match her mood, and practices her Italian in hopes of scoring 90% off Prada at the Tuscan outlets. She loves vintage shopping, dessert and cats.
The fashion at the haute couture shows is anything but simple. These collections spotlight and celebrate the highest degrees of craftsmanship and the finest materials available to designers. Even when the designs are pared-back, they’re undeniably spectacular. (See: Fendi Haute Couture Spring 2023.)
Another Paris fashion week rolls around and up pops up another viral celebrity outfit. There are the understated…and the outlandish. Think Kylie Jenner’s lion and Doja Cat’s literal head-to-toe Swarovski look…but that’s sooo yesterday‘s news.
While the Schiaparelli couture show was newsworthy on its own, both Doja and Kylie are making headlines for their looks du jour. Kylie choose the controversial route and went with Givenchy’s gasp-worthy, noose necklace. Yes, you read that right. A noose necklace.
Meanwhile, on Planet Doja Cat, she attended the Viktor & Rolf show sporting faux eyebrows, mustache, and goatee fabricated from false eyelashes. The false eyelashes were intentional, as Doja had heard that her fans were upset that her red Swarovski getup hadn’t included eyelashes…so Mz. Cat gave them eyelashes.
The one thing we do have to respect about Doja is that she is committed. There’s not a fashion week that struts by where Doja isn’t decked out in an outrageous, avant-garde outfit. She’s notorious for having her face and entire body painted in the name of red-carpet- fashion. The Paris Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2023 show featured 30,000 red Swarovski crystals covering every inch of Doja’s fabulous skin.
Doja Cat
Laurent VU/SIPA/Shutterstock
And let’s not forget newly single Kylie Jenner — who just announced her son’s name as Aire (don’t get me started) — wearing Schiaparelli’s latest couture: a dress with a gigantic fake lion head. What’s even more fascinating is that Irina Shayk sported this very same look on the same runway…where Kylie sat front row.
But don’t fret! Kylie’s borderline terrifying look was PETA-approved! Sleep better at night knowing this nightmare “celebrates” a lion’s beauty and may be a statement against trophy hunting…” according to PETA.
Personal favorites include Anya Taylor-Joy, who attended the Dior Haute Couture show in a cropped cream blazer with black applique detailing and matching corset.
Anya Taylor-Joy
By: Laurent VU/SIPA/Shutterstock
And in the name of Nepotism Babies…Apple Martin — daughter of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin — arrived at Chanel’s show in a classic Chanel set, seated in the front row. We all know this means Apple will be the future of Chanel, so prepare to see her in years to come.
This Spring 2023 haute couture shows have been heavily inspired by animals, myths and surrealism. Chanel is taking a more subtle approach than, say, Schiaparelli‘s faux-taxidermy, with its latest collection by Virginia Viard.
Among large plywood animal sculptures by French artist Xavier Veilhan inspired by ones once displayed at Coco Chanel’s apartment, models emerged in new riffs on the tweed sets, pin-tucked blouses, dress coats and capes the house is known for. A few looks — like a high-neck, double-breasted, flared-waist jacket and a series of top hats and bow ties — are reminiscent of the wardrobe a high-fashion ring leader, to fit with the mythical bestiary theme. However, the main takeaway from the Spring 2023 collection is Chanel’s endorsement of the mini skirt.
Just when you thought the Miu Miu mini fad was waning, Viard confirms the silhouette’s staying power: With just enough flounce, Chanel’s haute couture skirts give each look a youthful, gamine feel. Other highlights from the collection include ankle-grazing floral dresses, beautiful brocade gowns and a hand-beaded corgi on a bouclé tweed jacket.
The French house will inevitably be in the spotlight a lot more than normal this year, with the upcoming Costume Institute exhibit and Met Gala honoring the late Karl Lagerfeld, followed by a major Coco Chanel retrospective at the V&A in London in September.
Scroll to Continue
See the full Chanel Haute Couture Spring 2023 collection, below.
Schiaparelli’s Spring 2023 Haute Couture collection is as ravishing as it’s whimsical, elegant and macabre.
A moto jacket reimagined as an oversized puffer. Fantastic boleros blown-up yet fitted in all the right places. A simple-looking blazer with an onyx snake trimming the collar, shining as if it were live or liquid.
Under Daniel Roseberry‘s creative direction, the house has proven to have a penchant for fashioning the “extra ordinary,” whether that’s in ready-to-wear or haute couture, while exploring some heavy themes. This time, Schiaparelli grapples with torment, beauty and bravery, taking inspiration from the still-arresting themes of Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy” — specifically, “Inferno.”
“What appealed to me in the ‘Inferno’ wasn’t just the theatrics of Dante’s creation — it was how perfect a metaphor it provided for the torment that every artist or creative person experiences when we sit before the screen or the sketchpad or the dress form, when we have that moment in which we’re shaken by what we don’t know,” Roseberry wrote in the show notes.
In a successful attempt to fashion Alighieri’s “most arresting images,” the collection features faux taxidermy created entirely by hand. It propels any onlooker into a surrealist state: A leopard, lion and she-wolf (worn by none other than Naomi Campbell) force any viewer to revel in the Schiaparelli team’s mind-blowing craftsmanship and encourage a reflection on the duality of beauty and death.
Scroll to Continue
Not wasting any time, Kylie Jenner sat front row at the show wearing a customized version of one of these looks: a black velvet bustier dress featuring a lion head sculpted from foam, wool and silk faux fur and then hand-painted. Doja Cat was there, too, in her own fearless look. Tomato red from head to toe, the singer wore 30,000 Swarovski crystals hand-applied to her face and body, courtesy of Pat McGrath.
Kylie Jenner’s front row look mimicked what was on the runway itself.
Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli
Schiaparelli Spring 2023 Haute Couture is all about doubt as a creative — “the doubt of creation, and the doubt of intent,” Roseberry continued in the show notes. “With this collection, I wanted to step away from techniques I was comfortable with and understood, to choose instead that dark wood, where everything is scary but new, where I would be feeling my way through someplace I didn’t know and didn’t understand.”
See the full Schiaparelli Spring 2023 Haute Couture collection in the gallery below.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2023. Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
While Rihanna has been laying low since the birth of her son, she delighted fans Tuesday by making a fashionably late entrance at the 2023 Golden Globes.
She and A$AP Rocky were the power couple to watch at the prestigious film and television awards show. While they skipped the red carpet, they couldn’t escape eagle-eyed fans, who were quick to spot the two sitting among the star-studded crowd throughout the broadcast.
Rihanna was nominated (for the first time) in the category of Best Original Song for her track “Lift Me Up” featured in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” This marked her long-overdue return to music after six years, and while she didn’t win an award, she may have won best-dressed.
Scroll to Continue
For the occasion, Rihanna went for luxurious drama in a custom Schiaparelli Haute Couture piece designed by Daniel Roseberry. The jaw-dropping gown features a black velvet bustier with silk jersey drapé and a sizable stole in black bonded silk velvet. While certainly elegant, the gown’s puffed, cloud-like sleeves gave the look a playful touch.
The ensemble was completed with a pair of matching opera gloves, a black velvet Roger Vivier bag (this one to be exact), black heeled sandals and glittering jewelry. She quite literally shone bright like a diamond in Cartier earrings studded with platinum diamonds and a hefty choker from Cartier’s Sixième Sense collection, covered in platinum 18k white gold diamonds. Upping the playfulness of her look, Rihanna’s hair was swept up in a gelled-back pigtail buns, with a Josephine Baker-style curl framing her face.
Meanwhile, A$AP Rocky looked dapper in a modest black tuxedo that allowed Riri’s look to shine even brighter.
Sure, it’s “a tale as old as time,” but Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” actually turned 30 this year — a full Selena Gomez, for comparison.
So, on Thursday, ABC celebrated with a live-action and animated extravaganza directed by “Step Up” and “Crazy Rich Asians” auteur Jon M. Chu, headlined by marquee talent: H.E.R. as Belle, Josh Groban as Beast, Shania Twain as Mrs. Potts, Martin Short as Lumière and more. With clips of the original animation being interspersed with the stage performance, the costumes by Marina Toybina (winner of six Emmys, two of which were for “The Masked Singer”) helped create seamless continuity, while honoring the significance of the 1991 classic to ardent fans.
“The most challenging part is, how do you pay respect to the classic, but at the same time, try to give a [modern] take on the characters?” says Toybina.
With her team, Toybina built around 300 original costumes in just over two and a half months. Ahead, she takes us through the costume highlights.
Belle’s ‘Provincial’ Aesthetic
Belle (H.E.R.) in a modern-leaning denim dress, accessorized with a wicker basket and a book.
Photo: Christopher Willard/Courtesy of ABC
Toybina meshed 18th-century period authenticity with the vivid animation in our memories to introduce H.E.R.’s Belle as she goes about her day in her “provincial town.” She considered and sampled roughly “40 different tones” of organic fabrics, like cotton and linen, to illustrate Belle’s small village origins, before ultimately landing on a vibrant blue and circle-patterned denim for the overall dress, worn over a white puff-sleeve blouse.
The silhouette — with a corset and v-shaped stomacher — are period-correct, but Toybina forwent the structural padding under the soft muslin skirt layers. The end result communicates that Bell is a “free spirit and somebody that’s unique and stands out from the village,” she says.
“I made it more my own by bringing a little bit of a modern touch as far as adding certain details and trims, like an old-school belt and these worn-out shoes. I wanted there to be a life and a story to the character at the same time, and to make it as accurate [to history, but as] modern as I could.”
Belle’s Wintry Pink Cape and Gown
Belle’s pink dupioni gown.
Photo: Christopher Willard/Courtesy of ABC
The castle’s beloved staff-turned-homewares observe “Something There” between the Beast and Belle, who’s changed into a gown and cloak more appropriate for captivity. Memories of her pink, fur-trimmed ensemble from the movie remain just as vivid as the duo’s playful snowball fight.
“I can’t even tell you how many swatches I had of getting us to the right tones,” says Toybina, who referred to the exact Pantone shades of pink, while again remaining historically accurate to the corseted structure of the gown. “This is where you see an evolution of her wardrobe: There’s a pannier-like foundation underneath the three-layered skirting.”
In connecting all the familiar characters to each other and tracking back to the striking animation, Toybina “focused on significant fabrics — a dupioni and a taffeta to really bring those interesting textures to the show,” she says. Belle’s pink gown is constructed of multiple silk dupioni layers to bring the animated character to life. “But again, changing the design just enough to make it a little bit more contemporary.”
Toybina modernized the iconic look with a ribboned lace-up detail on the bodice, ruffle trims on the capelet, tonal color-blocking and on-trend matching gloves.
“I did go with a faux-fur accent on the cape,” she adds.
Belle’s Gilded Yellow Princess Gown
Belle’s new yellow-gold gown, with petal-like skirting.
Photo: Christopher Willard/Courtesy of ABC
Belle’s yellow finale ball gown remains the most iconic look from the 1991 film, immortalized by princess dolls, Halloween costumes and movie merch. For the 2017 live-action film, Jacqueline Durran even told Fashionista that determining the exact shade of yellow was “really a process.”
Toybina more than agrees, explaining that she conducted her own forensic analysis of the origin of the iconic shade, asking: “Is it a gold dress? Is it a yellow dress?” She considered the original film and any color-correcting, plus studied angles and shading.
“It was a gold dress that then evolved with time into a yellow dress,” says Toybina about the results of her research. “It was a mixture of both.”
Scroll to Continue
Ultimately, she decided to “not do a replica” of the original, also to highlight H.E.R.’s portrayal of the influential character: “I really wanted that to become her moment, as well.”
Fairy tale ending.
Photo: Christopher Willard/Courtesy of ABC
Toybina opted for luxurious textiles and techniques, like four types of pleating to create regal volume. “I definitely took it a step forward in the gold elements in the accents — and to make it more now,” she says, noting how she took “a very fashion approach” in designing the gown, also pulling inspiration from contemporary designers such as Alexander McQueen, Thierry Mugler and Daniel Roseberry’s Schiaparelli.
She also illustrated the fairy tale’s underlying theme of the rose through the gown design. “What can I do to make the yellow version of the rose?” she says. “What can I do to create the softness and elegance?” So, she experimented to create a specialty drape that represents rose petals.
“That was my inspiration to finish off the show strong, with a different interpretation of our hero dress,” says Toybina, “turning H.E.R. into that love story and [giving her] that happily-ever ending moment with my version of the gown.”
The Enchanted Costumes of Lumière, Mrs. Potts and Cogsworth
Lumière (Martin Short), Mrs. Potts (Shania Twain), Chip (Leo Abelo Perry) and Cogsworth (David Alan Grier).
Photo: Christopher Willard/Courtesy of ABC
When you have triple-threats like Martin Short, Shania Twain and David Alan Grier as singing and emoting castle décor, you just cannot cover their faces with costumes ‚ or so decided Toybina, Chu and producers after many deep discussions.
“I really wanted to let these characters come to life, and you can’t really do that when you’re restricting them,” says Toybina, who studied copious iterations of “Beauty and the Beast” performances, from Broadway to middle-school plays. “I wanted to see what magic is brought forward to these characters in the past.”
Toybina applied techniques learned and developed over her career, which also includes “So You Think You Can Dance” and Katy Perry’s 2015 Super Bowl Halftime Show. “Once I saw the casting, I started manipulating the artwork to make sure it was just the right costume for each our cast,” she says.
For Short’s Lumière, Toybina employed textile pattern-making and fabric manipulation to “create this swirl of a candelabra effect,” as opposed to using a molded structural design. (Though she did use latex builds to attach faux burning candles around decorative arm bands.) She also infuse historically-accurate interior design details, like reflecting the sheen and type of gold from the period.
To coordinate Lumière with Twain’s Mrs. Potts and Grier’s Cogsworth, Toybina created patterns with handmade latex and silicone decals, to emulate elaborate Rococo curves and molding. The intricate golden detailing runs teapot-lid-to-corset-to-porcelain-body-and-spout on Mrs. Potts, as well as on Cogsworth’s gilded headpiece and shoulder panels — “very much inspired by the now and details of what would it look like if you were a teapot and bringing this elegance,” says Toybina.
The Not-so-Beastly Prince
Prince only (Josh Groban).
Photo: Christopher Willard/Courtesy of ABC
“It’s the most unexpected way to represent the Beast,” says Toybina of Groban’s double-portrayal of the Prince-turned-Beast-turned-back-to-Prince.
Let’s just say that Chu and Toybina successfully addressed the age-old controversy of Beast v. the Prince in the forever-jarring finale reveal by having Groban operate and inhabit a 10-foot-tall Beast puppet. “It’s done in the most intricate yet detailed, simplistic and just brilliant way possible,” says Toybina, who custom-designed the puppet. (Head fabricator of the Beast team Erik Haskell led the build.)
The Prince-Beast.
Photo: Christopher Willard/Courtesy of ABC
The audience can see and experience Groban’s facial expressions and body language as the cursed Prince. “By [Groban] being that connected and able to emote through physically puppeteering the Beast, it’s almost feeling like he’s trapped and couldn’t get out,” says Toybina, like he literally “has the weight on the shoulder.”
She coordinated the Prince and Beast throughout via connecting dark-toned colorways and textiles, which also allude to the transformation and character evolution.
“The Prince is still present with us through this entire storyline, and, at the end, all we see is a transformation once through his costume,” says Toybina. This avoids the introduction of a whole new Prince face in the finale, when we’re used to the cuddly Beast at that point: “Because of that, you stay so connected to his character, beginning to end.”
:quality(85):upscale()/2023/11/06/048/n/1922564/3d3506ee65498064919c66.56388755_.jpg)
