EDITOR’S NOTE: Featuring the good, the bad and the ugly, ‘Look of the Week’ is a regular series dedicated to unpacking the most talked about outfit of the last seven days.
What better way to honor one of fashion history’s most famously spontaneous moments than with an elaborate custom gown that took 130 artisans a combined 22,160 hours to produce? If only irony always looked this glamorous.
At Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday, supermodel Bella Hadid attended the premiere of Antonin Baudry’s new Charles de Gaulle biopic, “La Bataille de Gaulle,” in a form-fitting ivory gown by Schiaparelli. From its trompe l’œil lace embroidery to the dark brooch holding everything together, the French couture house’s inspiration was clear: the crochet floral gown that late style icon Jane Birkin wore to the Union of the Artists gala in Paris in 1969.
In contrast to Hadid’s picture-perfect styling, Birkin’s outfit had resulted from a last-minute wardrobe fix — one that epitomized her gloriously blithe approach to fashion. Believing her neckline to be too high, the English socialite decided to wear her Emilio Pucci dress backwards. In doing so, she turned a backless gown into a daringly plunging one. Birkin then fastened the front (or what had become the front) with a bejeweled black brooch, achieving that rare feat of being both boho and risqué at the same time.
