The weekend before the Met, Kim went to see The Fear of 13 on Broadway, a play based on a documentary chronicling the wrongful conviction of Nick Yarris (played by Adrien Brody). She is co-producing because of the criminal-justice angle, but I like to think that Kim secretly decided she wants to EGOT and this was going to be her first stop. Alas, it got snubbed except in the lighting and sound design categories, so she will have to wait — perhaps for a revival of 12 Angry Men, or maybe a musical based on Keeping Up With The Kardashians. (I poke fun, but I have no problem with Kim producing plays OR taking an interest in criminal justice — for a long time people thought she had no dimension or ambition at all other than being famous, and she never had to do anything to change that if she didn’t want to, so I credit her for stretching herself. But she IS gonna have to produce her way to this mythical EGOT because All’s Fair ain’t it.)
Anyway: There was a time when Kim would have worn something profoundly weird or unpleasant anytime she left her hotel in New York, and this dress is a testament to how far she’s come in that regard. It’s a vintage Dior silk cheongsam from the fall 1997 Ready to Wear collection, which would have hit runways shortly after the Spring 1997 Couture show that yielded Nicole Kidman’s chartreuse dress. Each of those collections was John Galliano’s first of that sort for Dior, so this is kind of timely, given that he just sent Stevie Nicks to the Met Gala in his first garment for Zara. A bit of a fall, from Paris to the mall… but still perhaps a sign that he never really fell at all? Oh, shit, did I just write a poem?
I keep wondering if perhaps I’ve missed an act of contrition from Galliano — I believe people can and do change, but for whatever reason it never felt like he sincerely did, am I wrong? — and so I’m torn when people wear his new stuff, and put him on a pedestal, and I shudder when they pull out the garments he designed when he was the most hateful version of himself. I can’t help it. Now, I do not think Kim gave it a moment’s thought, or ever would — my opinion of her personal growth is not that high — but here she is, wearing this dress that has offbeat boob ribbons with tight gladiator sandals, and giving us something to talk about other than nipples and crotches. I suppose I am, for the second time in this post, applauding her for stretching herself, even if it’s not the direction I would have gone. Perhaps this Galliano is the All’s Fair of her wardrobe: interesting on paper but ultimately an impulse better ignored. What do you think?
[Photo: by XNY/Star Max/GC Images]
