Thursday, May 5, 2011

McQueen Glamour at the MET Ball

Mariacarla dazzles the good, the bag and the ugly

It is not often that you will see a red carpet event bring such glamour and poise as the MET Ball did in New York on May 2nd. Forget the Oscars, this is the event that brings out the big guns and anything goes, just ask the tartan clad Hamish Bowles. This year the stars were out in force to celebrate Alexander McQueen and the ball purposely coincided with the opening of Savage Beauty, the McQueen exhibition running at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art until early July.

One after the other the stars paid their respects in the most appropriate way of all, self expression through their clothing, a way in which McQueen will be forever grateful. At no other event have I ever seen so many couture gowns from top fashion houses such as Chanel, Givenchy and of course McQueen. 

The cream of the crop at the event included long time friends of McQueen; Daphne Guinness, Sarah Jessica Parker and Naomi Campbell who all wore meticulously crafted floor sweeping garments from the designers fashion house. Daphne Guinness’ dress was part of the most recent collection from McQueens right hand Sarah Burton (probably the most talked about name in fashion over the last week due to Kate Middletons wedding guna), she wore a stunning grey duck feather bodice dress. Others who looked absolutely stunning included Mariacarla Boscono who moved like a swan in Givenchy haute couture. Her black tresses flowed too in a vintage wave and the delicacy of the feathers on sheer encrusted mesh fabric looked breathtaking on the Italian supermodel (probably my favourite model of the last decade). Add to that the fact that she had designer of the moment and curator of her dress Ricardo Tisci on her arm, he himself looking spectacularly dapper; she wins my prize for best dressed on the night. Looking further down the red carpet there was rarely a bad dress in sight. Rihanna glistened in black lace by Stella McCartney, Blake Lively posed on the arm of Karl Lagerfeld in Chanel haute couture, Karlie Kloss who is very much so the model of the moment looked stunning in jewel embellished vintage Dior, Diane Kruger showed yet again that she always gets it ‘just right’ in Jason Wu. Zoe Saldana was queen of the brights in yellow Calvin Klein. Saoirse Ronan and Dakota Fanning showed the young ones how to do it in Rodarte and Valentino respectively. Up-do of the night went to Crystal Renn who dawned a black wedding dress by Zac Posen, the actors hair curved like a bend on a bobsleigh track around her head, simply stunning. In the menswear line, Victor and Rolf wore some super funky trousers from their Monsieur range, of which I need a pair in my life.

I wonder is it simply irony that on one of the biggest nights in fashion, the biggest woman in fashion Anna Wintour was one of the few to get it very wrong. Not for the first time the Vogue icon looked awash amidst the meticulously crafted gowns that models and actors half her age wore. Her daughter Bee showed that she is no more interested in a career in fashion than the man on the moon, in a dull and boring burgundy gown. Her editor at large Andre Leon Talley, looked totally ridiculous in a purple taffeta coat with a train, although it looked more like a train wreck to be brutally honest.

That’s all!

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang



Daphne Guinness in McQueen dress and heels

Karlie Kloss in Dior

Diane Kruger with Jason Wu

Liv Tyler, Ricardo Tisci and Queen of the night - Mariacarla Boscono

Naomi on a ramble in McQueen

Rihanna in Stella McCartney

Zoe Saldana with Francisco Costa of Calvin Klein

Irish star Saoirse Ronan in Rodarte

SJP in McQueen
Ricci wore an exclusive from Posen

Andre Leon Talley looking ridiculous in undisclosed - no wonder!

Double frock horror from Anna and Bee