The pup days of summer are here, those weeks between Memorial Day and the most sultry days of the July-August heat. In that sense, it’s a transitional time both barometrically and, of course, stylistically. The Met Gala and Cannes are both a wrap (thank you Isabelle Hupert, for those fabulous Balenciaga moments — we owe you), and though the events won’t cease (the Tony Awards, Fashion Week Men’s, etc.), it’s a distinctly slower pace that begins to set in. That might explain last night then.
MTV Delivers a Chaotic Neutral Red Carpet
Ever since MTV rebranded the Movie Awards to the clunkier Movie & TV Awards several years ago (no wonder they rebranded the hashtag as #MTVAwards), the show has felt a bit chaotic neutral in not quite knowing what it wants to be and who it’s serving.
The chaotic good of its forebearers now seems as distant a memory as the LaserDisc, giving way to a hodgepodge of talent ranging from Jennifer Lopez (who took home the night’s Generation Award Honoree) and Chris Evans to Erika Jayne and Chrishell Stause (who took home the night’s Best Reality Star). “There’s an award for best reality star?” you might be asking. There’s a whole genre! “You and are OGs in this genre,” Bethenny Frankel told Paris Hilton after picking up the award for Reality Royalty. (A declaration I’d like to protest, but that’s conversation for another day.) Reality stars are great, but do they deserve awards alongside Zendaya and Daniel Radcliffe? If there was an award for most random award show, this would easily take the popcorn.
Chase Sui Wonders in Peter Do
The same could be said of Sunday night’s carpet, which was all over the place, yet still managed to offer a few breakout moments like Bodies Bodies Bodies star Chase Sui Wonders in Peter Do, Sydney Sweeney in the blink-and-you-won’t-miss it Miu Miu crop top and micro-mini, Olivia Rodrigo in vintage Jean Paul Gaultier and Hacks star Hannah Einbeinder in Fendi. I could tell you that I recognized perhaps 20% of the faces on the carpet, but that might be just as much a reflection of me being out of the loop as it could be a sign of the award show’s waning cultural impact. You decide.
Will these looks rival Sharon Stone’s Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s recreation at the 1993 show? Hardly. Or Halle Berry’s tassels and G-sring at the 2000 show? Not a bit. Or Victoria Beckham’s zebra print in 2007? Assuredly not. As Sex and the City’s Lexi Featherston once proclaimed before falling to her death: "No one's fun anymore! Whatever happened to fun?”
Winona Ryder for Marc Jacobs Is an Amen to Fashion
Ah yes, the being arrested for shoplifting Marc Jacobs to being the star of the latest Marc Jacobs campaign pipeline. Many today might know her best as Stranger Things’s Joyce Byers, or perhaps for her myriad film roles ranging from Heathers to The Age of Innocence to Girl, Interrupted. But for a select set, she will always be best regarded for her courtroom looks two decades ago during the fall of 2002.
“Throughout her trial, Ryder looked splendid,” the Washington Post’s Robin Givhan wrote at the time. “For all of her courtroom appearances she was outfitted in a perfectly chic, refined and demure ensemble. She may be a shoplifter, but she has impeccable taste.”
Ryder was on trial for shoplifting $5,500 worth of goods from a Beverly Hills Saks Fifth Avenue in December of 2001. One of her biggest grabs? A $760 cashmere sweater by Marc Jacobs. (Ryder would go on to wear Jacobs during her trial as well, in what many perceived as a “fuck you” to the whole circus that ensued.)
In a move both incredibly fashion and incredibly Marc Jacobs, Ryder was cast in the brand’s Spring 2003 campaign and again as a spokesperson for the 2015 launch of Marc Jacobs Beauty. Making it a hat trick, Ryder is back once again in a new campaign for the brand’s J Marc Shoulder Bag. Winona forever.
'Fire Island' Premiere Is a Queer Fashion Fantasy
There’s a quote from one of the opening scenes of Fire Island that kept playing on loop as I gazed at the film’s stars throughout the New York City premiere the film, held at the SVA Theatre in Manhattan. "In our community, money isn't the only form of currency," Joel Kim Booster’s character Noah tells the audience through voiceover. "Race, masculinity, abs... just a few of the metrics we use to separate ourselves into upper and lower classes." And while that is true of society and by proxy the film itself, the red carpet premiere gave a distinctly welcoming energy that encouraged expression as the highest form of social status.
The film’s star and writer Joel Kim Booster showed up in Dion Lee, Matt Rogers in Versace, Tomás Matos in The Blonds, James Scully in Paul Smith, Zane Ethan in Todd Snyder, Nick Adams in Tommy Hilfiger and more. I, too, wish to know who Bowen Yang was wearing. I’ve texted him to see. Stay tuned. All this to say, beyond the excitement of a mainstream by queer, for queer film (which is getting rave reviews btw), it’s equally exciting to see a cast so jubilantly turn it out on a red carpet. Crop tops. Peck cleavage. Heels. Nails. No choices were left unmade.
Welcome to "Wear Me Out,"a column by pop culture fiend Evan Ross Katz that takes a deep dive into celebrity dressing. From award shows and movie premieres to grocery store runs, he'll keep you up to date on what your favorite celebs have recently worn to the biggest and most inconsequential events.
Photos via Getty