Amal Clooney wore one of the most polarising dresses at the Met Gala. Her Richard Quinn pants-dress combination was a bust for me. Duana, always the contrarian, didn’t hate it at all. Turns out though that that was one of two options for her – and the fact that she chose Richard Quinn over Tom Ford resulted in some fashion people getting all in their feelings about the snub. According to Page Six:
We’re told that when Amal told the Tom Ford team about the last-minute change, “they were annoyed, obviously, but they were gracious, and said it was fine to go with [another designer], but they would prefer that Amal not wear the dress at all if she wasn’t going to wear it on the Met Ball red carpet.” Vogue also lobbied Amal to stick to the original script, we’re told.
Ford’s fashion house had hoped, if Amal didn’t debut the dress — a full-length crimson number designed to look like a stained-glass window, in keeping with the Met Gala’s theme, “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” — that they would be able to show it at a different A-list occasion on another star, sources said.
But they were stunned — and furious — when Amal ignored their request and, after the media blitz of the red carpet, changed into the Tom Ford dress once inside at the more private affair. Vogue editor Anna Wintour said on “The Late Show” that Amal had insisted on changing gowns in the museum’s gift shop. Amal wore it for the rest of the night.We’re also told that Vogue staffers — who coordinate the red carpet for the gala, often brokering arrangements between designers and stars — were mortified by the debacle, especially as Amal is Vogue’s May cover star.
I’ve included photos of the Tom Ford dress with this post. It’s a good dress. It’s a better dress – in my opinion – than the Richard Quinn. That said, as exquisite as it is, it’s also pretty safe. It’s a dress beyond reproach which…sometimes… is its own drawback, especially at an event like the Met Gala. Because, of course, you want to be talked about – divisiveness is often what makes a dress stand out at the Met Gala. Ah sh-t, does this mean Duana was right all along?
That said, was Amal offside for changing into the Tom Ford later and not giving it the red carpet play that Tom Ford wanted and then also taking away the opportunity for the dress to have its proper shine on someone else at a later date? I can understand why they’re pissed. But also, as a clothes-obsessed person myself, I would have probably done the same thing and shown off as many looks as possible that night. She actually wore a third dress at one point – this one, Versace, for the after-party.
I mean, if you have access to three special dresses, why not, you know? Especially if you’re one of the co-chairs of the event?
In other Amal Clooney dress news, I mentioned yesterday that a dress was flown for a fitting at the Clooney estate on Monday. Sources tell me exclusively that the dress came from Milan, from Prada. So she’s wearing Prada for the royal wedding. Unless, of course, the situation is like the Met Gala and she has a backup planned and will go with that instead.
