Let’s start with the headlines: Britney Spears wore custom Versace at her June 9 nuptials to actor/personal trainer Sam Asghari, attended by both the expected (Madonna, Selena Gomez) and the random (Drew Barrymore, Ansel Elgort), then promptly deleted her Instagram (for now); model/photographer (and now director) Richie Shazam showed up at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of her new film, Savitree, in Look 8, the reverse trench dress with metal breastplate, from Loewe's much buzzed about Spring 2022 ready-to-wear collection; and Jake Gyllenhaal, Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union, Ncuti Gatwa, Jeff Goldblum, Damson Idris, Metawin Opas-iamkajorn and Manu Rios were all a sight to behold sitting front row at Prada's Spring 2023 Men's show.
That’s some quick bites. Now, let’s deep dive.
The Metaverse Is Going Fashion
Speaking of Prada, the Italian fashion house is joining Thom Browne and Balenciaga as the first three brands on Meta’s virtual fashion store. "A huge part of how people express themselves is through what they wear and fashion," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated in a joint livestream held alongside Instagram‘s director of fashion partnerships Eva Chen in which the news was first announced. "Basically it’s a clothing store for your Meta avatar," he went on to explain. "We already have a bunch of different free clothing... but we also wanted to create this marketplace."
Rolling out this week in Meta’s Avatars Store in the US, Canada, Thailand and Mexico, any outfit purchased can be worn across Meta-owned platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Messenger. "The dream here is to make it accessible to anyone," Zuckerberg explained. The plan as of now is to have more brands follow suit. Is this exciting for you? I’d be lying if I claimed to understand what any of this means, but I also feel like to write it off is to minimize something that is no doubt impacting the fashion industry.
After all, Prada and Thom Browne are industry leaders, not industry followers. So right now my attitude is very Trinity the Tuck, "I don’t know what the fuck she’s saying, but girl I am living."
Marilyn, Kim and the Dress Continue Making Headlines
Another day of this, I see. One has to wonder: Is Kim Kardashian’s Marilyn Monroe Met Gala dress the new Oscar slap? After all, both have at rapid pace become subjects so relentlessly picked over its mere mention elicits groans of existential dread. It seems unfortunately so, thanks (?) to newly surfaced photos in which Monroe historian Scott Fortner, who oversees the Marilyn Monroe Collection, the world's largest private collection of Monroe's personal property and archives, appears to show permanent damage done to the 70-year-old dress. Bum bum bum...
A representative for Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!, the organization who bought the dress for $4.8 million several years ago, fired back, alleging that the damage to the dress has been evident for years. "A report written on the dress’s condition in early 2017 states, ‘a number of the seams are pulled and worn. This is not surprising given how delicate the material is. There is puckering at the back by the hooks and eyes,’ among other instances of damage,’” reads a statement given to TMZ.
On Tuesday, Kim appeared on the Today Show where co-host Hoda Kotb asked her for comment. She breezily dismissed the accusations that the dress was ruined, saying simply: “Ripley’s [and I] worked together so well; there were handlers in gloves that put it on me.” Then, the conversation conveniently diverted to her weight loss.
We’ll never get to the bottom of this one, it seems. And what good would it do anyway? Is it sad that Marilyn Monroe, perhaps the most profiteered-to-the-point-of-ruin figure in pop culture history continues to suffer the same misfortune 60 years after her death? Yes. Will this incident do anything to circumvent that in the future? Not at all. If anything, it has proven the appetite for exploitation remains insatiable.
Xtina Delivers Notes on Camp at LA Pride
Where were you when you first saw the images of Christina Aguilera in a green musical suit complete with a bedazzled strap-on penis at Los Angles Pride? It’s giving She-hulk. "We wanted to reference Tom of Finland in a smart way, playing with proportions and extremes," says stylist Chris Horan who worked alongside stylist Anna Trevelyan on the event. The muscle suit/ab corset look was created by LA-based design house Venus Prototype; the crystal sunglasses and crystal dildo and Zana Bayne helped create the strap-on harness to keep the dildo fully erect. "We really were just trying to make muscle leather daddy come through."
That look was one of six for her set, each of which were themed around a color-based set that began with red and exploded into the finale, which saw Aguilera starting off in a custom red Zigman corset look and ending in a custom Pride equality flag Garo Sparo corset romper. "Overall we tried to create an aesthetic for each set of songs that would also match with a color and a mood," Trevelyan says. "We really wanted to do something fun, uplifting, sexy, vibrant and celebratory. And, of course, camp. We got to collaborate with some of our favorite designers who worked so hard to get all these looks together. It’s surprising how many people it takes to make a Swarovski-covered cone boob exploding rainbow confetti titties look."
And though some looks had to be scrapped in the end — one including having Xtina come out with a massive bulge and then taking it out on stage and the other was adding a mustache — the pair have no regrets about the final product. "The way it came together in the end was perfect," Horan says. "It’s really iconic for us as these are the songs of our teenage years," Trevelyan adds. "Xtina is a next level superstar who always has been and always will be an icon, so it’s so special to create these moments with her, especially for our LGBTQ+ family."
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.
Photo courtesy of Meta