GIRD YOUR PALETTES
FIRST MONDAY - FIRST FRIDAY - THE DEVIL WEARS...
From the first Friday to the First Monday in May. This year the hallowed May slot feels like a tale of two red carpets, two openings, one fiction, one… enhanced reality or fashion fiction? To new beginnings, new partnerships, new Mirandas and Emilys…
I would be insane if I didn’t mention The Devil Wears Prada 2 opened on Friday 1st May, whether you want see the movie or not, the red carpet junket has travelled the fashion capitals, social media and every surface you touch. It has been a masterclass in brand, character and colour coordination. You can see all the red carpet looks everywhere, including VOGUE.
To those that are new, curious, dipping a Manolo in… Welcome. If you can Subscribe, I would be very grateful, if you can’t - I get it… This post is free, for the entre, and then as we get into things there is a paywall. Much like when you read someone’s paper over their shoulder and the get off at the next stop. This Substack is about fashion, style, the many twisting roads, of then, of now, the lost and found, and Curiosity Shop of Life that inspires me…
Oh, that the entrance for the MET Gala could be too…
A lot has changed in 20 years. Or has it? Twenty years ago when the Devil Wears Prada (the movie) debuted designers ran from any dangerous association, looks were absolutely unavailable, no one wanted to react, snigger, agree, for fear of offending the real life version.
Twenty years on Vogue is in on the joke, owning this - and the coverage. How has the front row changed? Those in favour and those …
Anna Wintour has embraced the curiosity around brand Vogue, brand fashion… brand Anna… and, in a master move, appeared on the cover of her own magazine.
Again VOGUE.
But is that the only magazine and voice in fashion?
Has she become a celebrity equal or eclipsing brand Vogue? Time will tell – her business savvy for staying more than two steps ahead ensures no Miranda challenges to her throne. Will the movie champion fashion brands, creativity, or put the spotlight on ego? Will the DWP2 parody or enhance fashion’s quest, or is it just a vehicle for a box office juggernaut?
The Business of Fashion - who are name checked in the film - are one of the contenders for fashion’s crown… or do they already have it? Twenty years ago journalism was a different scene. How we consume news today a different beast… he sat down with Meryl rather than Miranda…
And Everyone is claiming to be the inspiration behind Emily.
That there are so many contenders says a lot about the industry… What about the Andy’s, the assistants and worker bees? Will Runway be toppled by the new guard – or will the old guard buy themselves more time? Fashion – industry – survival thrives on moving forward and change. Fashion is there to champion the new, the innovative, the exciting. Let’s be more original that making the Mean Girl the one to aspire to.
“You aren’t a Visionary, you’re a Vendor”
… One of the – supposedly – cutting lines in DWP2. That irritated me. Surely the one who sells the dream is the visionary? You can buy a magazine or scroll the internet to ‘look’ at the dream, but surely the one who can sell the dream, perpetuates the cycle and is actually the real visionary that makes the dream true? Should we ask a buyer that dares to invest, to put their ‘money where their mouth is?’
But lets not get too bogged down with Friday’s news, with a version of when today is all about the First Monday and …
MONEY MONEY MONEY
Which brings things neatly to the MET. The First Monday in May. Fashion’s biggest night, the Oscars if you like of the fashion red carpet. Under the guise of all the pouting and posing it’s a fundraiser. In 2025 the MET Gala raised $31 Million, a new record as the most successful fundraiser in the Costume Institute’s history…
This year the theme of the exhibition is Costume Art – and the dress code : Fashion is Art. Let’s hope for the best.
AS VOGUE SAYS:
The directive perfectly reflects the ethos of “Costume Art,” which explores the “centrality of the dressed body” through depictions and interpretations of the human form in the Met’s extensive collection. Made up of nearly 400 objects, the show—set to occupy the Met’s new Condé M. Nast Galleries, adjacent to the Great Hall—pairs garments from the Costume Institute with paintings, sculptures, and other works spanning some 5,000 years of art history. In turn, the dress code encourages attendees to consider the many ways that designers use the body as their blank canvas.
How people will interpret this… is yet to be seen.
How many YSL Mondrian’s?
Who will wear Versace’s Warhol dress?
And Dior? Who will be the designer that takes the crown?
ART AND ITS MUSE
John Galliano, who of course did the Margiela collection, and is one of the most invited to the MET – but look a little further into recent history…
We (I worked at Dior and Galliano in the studio, creating the ‘voice’, and Gazette for the house from 1999 until the end…) We did the Bal des Artistes at Versailles – each look inspired by a different artist. A tribute to our fallen hero.
Then there was his reworking of the infamous Madame X – the painting by John Singer Sargrent of the American- born Parisian socialite Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, known for her striking beauty, unconventional style, and strapless dress. In 1884 the painting caused such a drama when it was unveiled, with her bejewelled strap hanging scandalously fallen from her shoulder, the blooming thing had to be tweaked to save on smelling salts.
There was Klimt, Surrealism, Boucher, Watteau, Cranach, and a lot of glitter…The above 2008 situation we were all covered in black glitter for weeks…
Art was a constant reference at Galliano and Dior…
I hope the red carpet focus on art and creativity over costume.
If I was invited, and invited to look for a muse I would suggest these two Galliano shows for inspiration:
