So…the wedding. The biggest event of the decade so far has come and gone, and we don’t mind admitting that here at farfetch.com HQ there were tears, and lots of them. Despite usually being a bit boring clothes-wise, Kate Middleton knocked it out of the ball park in Sarah Burton’s sleek and spectacular take on Grace Kelly’s iconic dress from her wedding to the Prince of Monaco. As sartorial choices go, I doubt Prince William’s wife could have made a better one (and her night-time gown, another Burton creation was also stunningly chic…except for that fluffy bolero). And the princes looked pretty epic too, in all their fancy army clothes.
Unfortunately that’s pretty much where it ended. Most of the guests veered into badly dressed territory, or just looked plain dull. The problem was, that the vast majority of these people were not fashion people, or even celebrities with stylists, so we couldn’t reasonably expect them all to swan out in Chanel couture and obscure Belgian designs, but it would have been nice for an event of this important to have style to match.
Instead we had Victoria Beckham looking like she was attending a funeral, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie looking pantomime-esque (seriously, my own mother actually called me up to tell me how bad they looked and how she’d never let me leave the house like that), and the over 50s (Carole Middleton, Camilla, the Queen) outshining anyone else in the congregation.
Fortunately, just as we had gotten over the emotion and general fabulousness of Friday, along came Anna Wintour and the Met ball to provide a serious fashion fix. Monday’s event, which has long been dubbed the ‘Style Oscars’, this year celebrated the opening of the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty retrospective, at the museum.
The red carpet was a visual feast, with gowns, gorgeous people and couture…OH MY!
We couldn’t possibly show you everyone since literally, EVERYONE, was there, but we will share with you the night's farfetch.com heroes and villains…
Ok, firstly, etiquette. If you’re lucky enough to be attending an event stuffed wall to wall with the industry’s biggest names, and it's been planned meticulously for months by the editor of
American Vogue herself, you really should make the effort. Unlike Fabiola Beracasa here who disappointed her many fans over at Fugnation (where she can often be spotted in a series of bizarre and eye-watering outfits) by turning up in some boring black ensemble better suited to All Bar One on a Thursday night.
Naturally, since the night honoured the late and great Alexander McQueen, a lot of ladies turned up wearing the eponymous label. Some were good, like Salma Hayek
some were terrible, *cough Chloe Sevigny cough * (alright that is 80% down to that dead animal masquerading as her hair)
But in my opinion no one wore the brand better than the radiant Karen Elson, who first wore her gold dress when she modelled it on its catwalk debut in Spring/Summer 04, and whose ethereal, other-worldly aesthetic has always been a fantastic fit for the label…
Usually I am very pro-Alexa, her choice are always quirky, and pretty in a tomboyish and effortless sort of way, but this sparkly Chirstopher Kane number is a bit too try-hard without really being stand-out at all. Maybe it’s the influence of that
Hurts boy she was rumoured to be getting so close to at Coachella. That’s one poseur-looking band. Please don’t change Alexa!
Another disappointment was Rosie Huntingdon-Whiteley. As a Burberry girl, and a heart-stoppingly beautiful one at that, you would expect a bit of wow-factor. Which there was, except it was more ‘Wow, I think I once saw that dress on Krystle Carrington’. And even though it’s a Burberry dress, it doesn’t
look like a Burberry dress.
American actress and comedienne Amy Poehler may not have Rosie’s supermodel looks, but here she demonstrates how charisma and general awesomeness will make you radiate no matter what you’re wearing. (It’s J. Mendel by the way. And also you simply must watch her on
Parks and Recreation).
It was a good night for the colour red. Firstly on Dutch model Doutzen Kroes, who gave everyone a master-class in how to do a thoroughly modern ball-gown, in this case by Giambattista Valli…
And then on
Glee star Dianna Agron, who arrived with designer Michael Kors and gave one of his dresses a slightly Trojan warrior edge, teaming it with a gold cuff.
In the battle of the Chanel couture, you’d assume Blake Lively would win, since it was she that Karl Lagerfeld chose to accompany down the carpet. But then although her draped dress was pretty, it lacked the unmistakable Chanel X factor
And she was totally outshone by Indian actress Frieda Pinto, whose beautiful white satin couture number was sexy but retained the masculine edge so intrinsic to the classic Coco Chanel look.
Just to make sure that the boys don’t totally miss out on the fun, we have to show you Hamish Bowles, who really stepped up the game in a plaid Alexander McQueen kimono and custom-made Christian Louboutins (he totally deserved a round of applause for those tassells alone)
And finally, my own personal favourite, Zoe Saldana. This may be in part due to the fact she looks like she took inspiration from our own beloved Queen at the Royal Wedding, and picked a Spring-like primrose yellow for her outfit. But there is no denying how beautiful those clean, simple lines of that Calvin Klein dress are. Sometimes less really is more.
