Ryan Gosling Brings 'Kenergy' to the Red Carpet

Other things top of mind: Beyoncé has joined TikTok. Lil Uzi Vert changed their Instagram pronouns to they/them. Drew Barrymore back in the rain. Gaga back on stage.

Now let’s get into this week’s big stories.

Adele Dazeem Does QVC

Move aside Deborah Vance, there’s a new home shopping queen on the scene, none other than the wickedly talented Idina Menzel. Encore by Idina Menzel (get it, cause she’s a theater star?) bills itself as a collection of “chic yet easy-to-wear styles that transition seamlessly from one activity to the next.” I didn’t realize that difficult-to-wear is implicit in chicness, did you? Although the Tony Award-winner admitted she “never really saw [herself] as a very fashion kind of girl,” she decided, apparently, why not? She calls the collection “sleep to street,” which translates to a clothing line with no discernible characteristics whatsoever.

In other words, “from sitting to standing,” Who? Weekly co-host Bobby Finger joked during a recent episode of the podcast in which a caller phoned in looking for some kind of explanation for why this clothing line exists. Spoiler: It’s an unanswerable question. He added: “These clothes look like when you Google ‘clothes.’”

It really is the perfect description for a line of clothing that seems to beg the question: “What’s more basic than basics?’ One look, a plain T-shirt with no design flourishes whatsoever, is described as an “easy look” that is “bound to look put together (even when you don't feel it).” *very Whoopi Goldberg on The View voice* Okay. This T-shirt is called the Slub V-neck Tee. Slub? Yes, this is technically a term, describing a knit fabric that is usually made from yarn not of uniform thickness, but I’d say it’s giving more schlub. Still, even that implies some distinctive quality that this T-shirt most certainly lacks.

Look, I love Menzel’s 1998 album Still I Can’t Be Still as much as any other homosexual Broadway devotee that came of age in the '90s, but this collection makes no sense. I can buy into a random celebrity doing a clothing line (hello 6126 by Lindsay Lohan). It doesn’t even have to be good (hello Miley Cyrus and Max Azria for Walmart). But it must be distinguishable in some way. As her character Elphaba once sang in Wicked: “One more disaster I can add to my generous supply.”

Ryan Gosling Brings Kenergy to the Red Carpet

Let’s be honest: Ryan Gosling on a red carpet and you already have my attention. But Ryan Gosling on the red carpet in a mint Gucci suit? To quote Kylie Jenner, “Next thing I knew I was pregnant.” The suit, which Gosling wore at the premiere of The Gray Man, comes courtesy of Gosling’s stylist Mark Avery. “Ryan has such an amazing sense for color and fabric and detail so Gucci was the ideal partner,” Avery tells me. “As a stylist it was a dream to get to be involved from the ground up in bringing such a beautiful look to fruition.”

Asked about his favorite thing about working with Gosling, a star with an influx of both presence and appeal, Avery offered this: “It’s great to get to work with someone with such a huge amount of goodwill and appeal as Ryan has but the more interesting part of working with Ryan is that he is the driving force behind all the best ideas.It’s a privilege to get to say I style Ryan, but the truth is I assist and Ryan styles Ryan. What can I say... The guy just is that cool.”

You didn’t think I was going to not ask about the upcoming Barbie movie press tour, did you?

“Barbie was such an amazing experience to work on and I’m still high off the ‘Kenergy,’" he jokes. Wait... Is Avery responsible for the leaked images we’ve been seeing? Not exactly. Avery has been Gosling’s stylist and personal costumer since 2015. This means that he’s his on set costumer, exclusively working with him during filming and helping in the creative process between the costume designer, in this case Jacqueline Durran, and Gosling. An enviable job, indeed.

As for what we can expect, Avery is expectedly coy: “I’m sure we will channel those positive vibes on set into some fun come next July.”

The Slow, Calculated Return of Alexander Wang

In December, I asked “Where Does Alexander Wang Go From Here? Apparently upward, after months of relative lying low.

If Dolce & Gabbana has taught us anything, it’s not what good clothing looks like, but rather the resilience of a fashion brand. With another star-studded couture show under their belt, they’ve once again solidified their non cancellable status. Alexander Wang appears to be angling for a similar cultural amnesia. First we got Julia Fox making the rounds in the brand’s wears. Then there was the new campaign featuring Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Rinna and Kylie Jenner bestie, Anastasia Karanikolaou.

Now, earlier today, we got the news that the “iconic fashion designer,” according to PR Newswire, is relocating its global headquarters to Manhattan’s Seaport via a new 15-year lease. Wang will reportedly take over the entire top floor, including a 5,000-square-foot patio, which will also feature the brand’s new showroom. This onslaught of positive press is a calculated maneuvering away from controversy and towards a future focused more on the clothes and less on alleged misconduct. Does this movement signal that the brand will return to its status as one of American fashion’s biggest? Only time will tell, of course.

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