Models have always been a regular feature of the Cannes Film Festival. Cannes is the festival of unapologetic glamour and excess. Everything has eight layers of adornment on it. And part of a model’s job is to adorn. This year, marking the return of Cannes after a COVID pause, the most high-profile model of Cannes 2021 has been Bella Hadid. And yesterday she served the most spectacular look that we’ve seen so far on the Croisette. It’s Schiaparelli:
The neckpiece is 100% part of the dress, because otherwise, the dress would be unwearable at a public event this prominent. The technical “dress” part of the dress is only there as a foundation, obviously, because everything about this goes to the lungs that are covering her breasts. It’s spectacular, it’s magnificent, and also… it probably hurts? Here’s your argument for modelling not being the easy ride that you think it is. Because I’m zooming in here and it looks like some of those lung branches are pinching at the sides of her breasts. I mean, of course, this isn’t, like, the same thing as working in a mine or anything, but it’s also not all that comfortable, having to keep up the posture, with your tits being pinched, and working every angle, and it was probably heavy around her neck too considering that thing is made of brass. But this is the responsibility – to present the design in all its glory, to show it off to the best of your ability. And Bella certainly delivered. Every shot I’ve seen of her is perfection.
To go back to the design though, and the work that went into it before Bella was even fitted, what I really love is how the whole piece, together, along with the dress and the way it’s cut, seems to evoke the act of breathing. Right? When you look at her straight on, and how the black fabric opens and then narrows, it mimics the act of taking a breath – inhale, expand, exhale, contract, where the contraction tapers to the waist. This is the thought, and more, that goes into creating an unforgettable piece of wearable art.
