Nicole Kidman’s Thierry Mugler last night was one of the carpet’s best. But f-ck her, we’re not giving her the satisfaction. Because did you watch her interview with Ryan Seacrest?
He asks her the question. He asks her about the dress. She pauses. And then, “I don’t know what to say”. When Seacrest prompts her for the designer, she remains silent until it gets so awkward, he had to move on to talk to Keith Urban about his t-shirt. Really, Nicole Kidman? YOU?
It’s not like I want to defend Ryan Seacrest either, but this is the game. This is not Inside The Actors Studio. So while, sure, we can do away with the mani-cam and the clutch-cam and the close up shots that feel like they’re autopsies, a fashion question isn’t unfair. And you know what? It’s not like they don’t care either.
After all, this is Nicole Kidman. The same Nicole Kidman who wanted that Dior by Galliano chartreuse dress so badly for the Oscars in 1997, she basically chased a woman up a mountain for it. The story is told in Bronwyn Cosgrave’s book Made For Each Other about the history of Oscar fashion. And when she finally put it on, she had the discipline and the tenacity to sit, unmoving, in a limo for 90 minutes so as not to wrinkle it so she could achieve perfection when she was finally photographed. The result? One of the most memorable Oscar dresses of all time. That dress practically made her.
So don’t f-cking play it now like you’re above the goddamn question.
And on top of that, I call your attention to Zoe Saldana’s comments as featured in The Hollywood Reporter Stylist issue in 2013, speaking about her relationship with her stylist, Petra Flannery.
“We’ve managed to convince a lot of directors who now have respect for what we put together and for Petra’s essential place in a huge press tour like Star Trek or Avatar.” When Saldana takes a memorable turn on the carpet, “Those directors are like, ‘Oh my God, Petra really knocked it out of the ball park,’ and you’re like, ‘Yeah, she did.’ She killed it, which is very important for me and for her and for selling a movie.”
The fashion is part of the strategy now. The strategy behind the career. Within the industry, among Kidman’s peers, THIS is the WORK.
So if you have a complaint about how it WORKS, take it up with your acting friends, take it up with your own community before you front to the media like it’s beneath you, like you don’t give a sh-t about the clothes. If that were the case, why aren’t you recycling the same LBD over and over and over again?
