Janet Jackson, Erykah Badu, Doja Cat and Jaden Smith Take in Thom Browne’s Opera Spectacle
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Thom Browne knows how to put on a great show, and this season he didn’t disappoint. With nearly 60 looks and clocking in at 30 minutes — an eternity in the era of fast-paced runways — Browne offered up a delectable piece of Opera cake with layers and layers of performance art.
It was a play on the classic tale of Cinderella, with Gwendoline Christie swanning up and down the gilded halls to open the show. Models walked in a succession of gowns in confectionery colors and blending eras of history.
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Janet Jackson, Erykah Badu, Doja Cat and Jaden Smith were seated tightly in the front row. “It was dreamy, it was a dreamy show. It’s too soon to say, I’m still in the dream,” Badu said of her impression after the show. But for all the voluminous dresses on parade, she said one of the standout pieces were the high-heeled, square-toed saddle shoes. “The shoe fits — definitely.”
Ever the fashion fan, Jaden Smith was specific. “Number 19,” he told WWD. “It was the draping, it was like a layered dress that was just awesome.”
The gender-fluid show ended with Christie announcing to the audience: “In Thom Browne’s world, all girls and all boys fit inside the shoe.”
Those words resonated with Smith. “I loved the message and I always love the stories that Thom tells in all of his shows. It was beautiful,” he said.
Doja Cat told Badu she was a fan, and the two posed for selfies together, while Jackson went quickly backstage. The group decamped to the balcony overlooking the plaza after the crowds had cleared.
Lee Pace, fresh off of his role in “Bodies, Bodies, Bodies,” took in the scene. The film deals with how social media has changed our lives. So what does he think of the selfie spectacle at a fashion show? “There’s so many different ways to look at that whole thing. Some people are really cool with it and some people make fools of themselves. I mean, something like this is so cool, it’s a fun thing to see. It’s like theater,” he said. “I have an Instagram and a Twitter but I’m very neglectful of it.”
Pace just wrapped the second season of Apple TV+’s “Foundation.” This upcoming arc of the sci-fi epic is going to be “really wicked,” he said.
Model and designer Ella Emhoff is rethinking her knitwear line, which she debuted last year. “Right now I’m trying to figure out where it exists in the world. I don’t want it to exist as a traditional fashion brand because my relationship to knitting is so much more than just making collections and making clothing; it’s a lot more community-based and I’m trying to find a way that it can combine both things.”
Emhoff has become a front row regular since she walked her first runway last year, and took in several shows this week. “Half the time it’s market research,” she said. “It’s seeing fabrics, what colors are in and where everyone’s head is at, so then it gives me an idea of what I want to wear — and all the stuff I make is stuff I want to wear,” she said.
She’s working on a scrap yarn project by collecting from other designers as well as donations off of Instagram to create a dress line. “I’m tying them all together. I’m trying to keep it as circular as possible. With knitwear and textiles there is so much waste, so I’m trying to counter that.”
The stepdaughter of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said she’s working in activism, but has no desire to enter politics. “I leave that to the parents.”
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