Miss Fame Says Fashion Industry Books Queens 'Performatively'

Sunday evening saw not one, but two award shows: The BAFTAs and the Critics Choice Awards. While many celebs chose one or the other, Lady Gaga decided to have her cake and eat it too. She showed up first in a custom bottle-green Ralph Lauren (a good way to generate some buzz for the brand ahead of their show) pleated velvet plunging gown with silk taffeta insets. She then slipped into a custom gold and black Gucci crystal-embellished silk satin gown that was inspired by the house’s Spring 2022 collection (the shows were shot simultaneously on the same night, with a second ceremony in London for Critics' Choice).

Other notables were Kristen Stewart, who in a rare yay moment was freed from her Chanel restraints but turned it nay in her choice to wear D*lce & G*bbana, a brand whose presence continues to rise on the red carpet. As is prototypical, we got a lot of presence from the big houses. Hoyeon Jung, Selena Gomez and Lee Jung-jae in Louis Vuitton, and Jared Leto, Jodie Turner-Smith and Joshua Jackson in Gucci, Jamie Dornan, Jean Smart, Mj Rodriguez and Ella Purnell in Valentino, all at the CCAs.

Meanwhile, at the BAFTAs you had Alana Haim, Millie Bobby Brown, Léa Seydoux, Renate Reinsve in Louis Vuitton, Sienna Miller, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Salma Hayek in Gucci, and Simone Ashley, Haley Bennett and Sophie Okonedo in Valentino.

As for best dressed at that show? At the CCA’s it was Jasmin Savoy Brown in Prada, Kristen Wiig in Rodarte, Indya Moore in Off-White.

Stand-outs from the BAFTAs included Daniel Kaluuya and Lashana Lynch in Prada, Rachel Zegler in Vivienne Westwood, Ariana DeBose in Oscar de la Renta and Kodi Smit-McPhee in Louis Vuitton. "This was a completely new silhouette for Kodi and we wanted to try something we haven’t done before," says stylist Jared Eng. "We saw a similar look on the runway, so when LV gave us the opportunity to do a custom look, we put our brains together, exchanged sketches, samples, and lots of feedback. Et voila!"

Up next: The Oscars.

The Kris Kristofferson-ication of Chris Pine

New iteration of Chris Pine just dropped! It’s being described as "70s guru formalwear," which NGL I see it, but Pine’s new look is, according to the actor, somewhat of an homage to Gregg Allman of The Allman Brothers Band fame. "It’s equal parts laziness and equal parts something I may do in the future here,” everyone’s favorite Hollywood Chris toldEntertainment Tonight about his new bushy aesthetic. "If there's any excuse not to shave and have makeup put on, I, you know..." Oh, we know.

The look in question came atop a cream Sandro suit, styled by Wendi and Nicole Ferreira, at the premiere of his new film All the Old Knives at The London West Hollywood in Beverly Hills. Some saw at cosplaying disco Leonard Mccoy, while others felt it was giving "cult." I see it more as an "excuse me sir, how dare you?" in managing to both perplex and titillate. But hey, I’m of the school of thinking that Pine is incapable of looking anything other than DILFy, a particularly notable accomplishment in that he is not even yet a father.

The Front Rows of Fashion Month

Who had the most star-studded FROW? Was it Louis Vuitton, which assembled Julianne Moore, Cynthia Erivo, Emma Stone, Sarah Paulson, Alicia Vikander, Gemma Chan, Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner?

Or was it Saint Laurent, who got Demi Moore, Jacob Elordi, Amber Valetta, Victoria Beckham, Donatella Versace and Maude Apatow?

Or how about Balenciaga, which saw Kim Kardashian next to Alexa Demie plus Salma Hayek, Diplo and Sinead Burke?

Lest we not forget about Dior, which had Rihanna, Anya Taylor-Joy, Alexa Chung, Ira Law, Olivia Palermo, Yara Shahidi and Gugu Mbatha-Raw.

Can’t decide? Don’t worry, there’s more options. Loewe had Tracee Ellis Ross, Kiernan Shipka, Miss Fame, Alexa Chung, Amina Muaddi and Ella Emhoff? How about that?

Or, for your consideration Kim Kardashian, Storm Reid, Rita Ora, Emma Mackey, Mackenzie Davis and Charli D’Amelio at Prada?

Okay, but what about Paris Jackson, Taylor Hill, Naomie Harris, Venus Williams and Kehlani at Givenchy?

Or how could we leave out Julianne Moore and Jacob Elordi at Bottega Veneta? Or Kylie Minogue and Julia Fox at Versace? Or Demi Moore and Gugu Mbatha-Raw at Chloe? Or Anne Hathway and Alexander Skarsgård at Armani?

This all to say the star-studded FROW is very much back and in full force.

Miss Fame at Fashion Month

And speaking of Front Rows, I think we need not waste another moment not talking about Miss Fame. Fame attended Ludovic de Saint Sernin, Vivienne Westwood, MAITREPIERRE, Miu Miu, Loewe, Giambattista Valli and Rochas, in addition to a number of parties and openings, as one does when you’re an international drag icon. Before drag performers sitting front row or walking Fashion Week runways became first the du jour and then the norm, Fame was there, cementing her place at the top.

"I went hard and I was prepared," Fame says of her time in Paris. Fame says she dipped into her archived latex collection. "I wanted it to be a bit more severe. I wanted it to be overtly sexual. I wanted to claim my identity and my femininity in a completely more realized way and not play it safe at all." Fame’s skillset adheres in her ability to understand the assignment, and cater it to herself. Take, for instance, her closing look at the Miu Miu show, which saw her add a bit more fetish, a fame signature, in the form of a tightly-cinched corset and touch of latex courtesy of Atsuko Kudo.

Was it all as glamorous as it looked from the inside? "It’s a total front, fashion is totally faking it," she says of the seemingly inclusive nature of including more queens at show. "They are not supporting us the way they should. The performatively pay the queens for a booking. Extended contracts are rare. Give a girl a fucking break. You’ll see Doutzen Kroes or Karlie Kloss or Bella Hadid raking in the dough, and they’ll offer us a 10th of the rate they give to those girls. It’s insane and incredibly insulting and completely infuriating."

Still, Fame says, "I'm committed. I’m invested. And I look great. I know what I do is top tier. There’s nobody touching it the way I do outside of Violet Chachki. The other girls are good, but I’m great. It’s cute, but that kind of quality comes from time and the resources of support and a family of fashion that really has your back.” And that’s that on that!

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