There was a Women in Film Party (from which we already saw Rita Ora), a Chanel dinner, and some “Hollywood For Science” gala that honored Barbra Streisand but did not afford our photo services a glimpse of her.
As for Chanel, we hear you on the topic of Karl Lagerfeld, and as it relates to our expressed feelings about the wisdom of celebs wearing D&G and Marchesa. To clarify: My issues with Marchesa are with Harvey, and the fact that — again, to the best of my understanding — he remains a financial partner for Marchesa, and as Georgina’s husband (their settlement was hammered out ages ago, with no divorce filing in sight) still doubly gains from its success. With Dolce & Gabbana, the brand is embroiled in ongoing issues with Gabbana’s public comments and other poor optics, and he actively seems to give zero shits about upgrading his attitudes. Those are two ongoing things.
In the wake of Karl’s death, I’ve heard a lot of stuff about things he’s done or said of which I’ve not been aware. He’s not someone I really know much about at all, other than his appearance and his professional achievements, and his cat I guess, and the occasional sour remark about sweatpants. Our post about his passing was an effort to mark it in a timely fashion, so I quoted and linked to some obituaries I’d seen, but didn’t feel qualified to dive any deeper than that. Do I think it has been problematic for celebs to wear Chanel — as if it’s an endorsement of what he’s said or done in his life — in the same vein as D&G and Marchesa? I can’t truly say, because I am not educated enough about, for example, Karl Lagerfeld’s evolution as a person, or whether he even underwent one. I can’t speak to whether that was, therefore, equally willful and ongoing. Gabbana and Marchesa seem to be making the same choices over again. Was Karl? I don’t know. (John Galliano is another name one could toss in the mix when it comes to the subject of atonement and legacy.) We are in a time when we’re re-examining a lot of icons, and are headed into a time when many longtime ones of a bygone era will pass and cause us to take their pasts and presents to task as well. It ties into the tricky nature of grief, and mourning aspects of a person but not their whole — or whether that’s even possible. I suspect the answers will be subjective, and vary from person to person and case to case. We’re always open to hosting those discussions, and certainly have discussed the art vs artist conflicts before, although they’re usually in random posts and I can’t point to them right this second; one of them was about the Ted Danson blackface thing in this most recent time we featured him. And it was very a thoughtful conversation. I think some of that came up in the Lagerfeld post as well.
Anyway, if you’d like to tee off on this subject, go ahead. As usual, I hope we can keep it polite and thoughtful.
