Stylist: Andrew Mukamal
Outfit: custom Oscar de la Renta by Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia
Rose decoration: Barbra Scott Flowers
Makeup Artist: Nina Park using YSL Beauty
Hairstylist: Nikki Nelms using Amika
Colorist: Aura Friedman
Manicurist: Casey Herman using Essie
Bag: Oscar de la Renta
Shoes: Christian Louboutin
Jewelry: Tacori
Zoë Kravitz has mastered the art of looking fabulous without even trying, that’s why analyzing her red carpet choices is always a pleasure. Today we went back to the MET Gala 2017, whose theme was Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between.
Kravitz stunned in a custom Oscar de la Renta pale pink and black duchesse satin column gown and cape. The bodice of the gown featured hand-embroidered, preserved and dyed fresh black roses by Barbra Scott Flowers.
Even if the design of the entire ensemble could seem “simple”, there is actually a beautiful story behind it as revealed by one of Oscar de la Renta‘s creative directors Fernando Garcia to Fashionista.com: “We spoke to Andrew [Mukamal], Zoë‘s stylist, who was very open to having us pitch him any ideas. Zoë‘s favorite was a look from the runway that had flowers on the bust and it was actually Andrew’s idea to work with somebody who does preserve flowers here in LA and so they shipped them to us.”
The look surely felt like a homage to Audrey Hepburn, first of all because Kravitz dressed as Hepburn in a memorable scene of the the series Big Little Lies and also because of Hepburn‘s relationship with the late designer.
“I thought it would be beautiful for her to do it for us because Audrey and Oscar have a history, and it’s very much a look of the house.”
The flowers added a little edge to contrast the sweet tone of the dress.
The admiration goes both ways as stylist Andrew Mukamal revealed to Billboard: “I loved their first collection for Oscar, and I actually have a very preppy side of me even though people think I’m very black and dark in how I dress. I have a great appreciation for the Oscar history, language and legacy. When the offer came in for the Met, I was super excited about it because I had already been dressing Zoë in some of the new collection.
There was a look from the Fall collection that was a silver and red floral brocade top and pants, so when we had our first meeting with Fernando, I referenced that look but brought up the idea of using real flowers. Fernando‘s eyes lit up and we just kind of went from there.”
“I didn’t want her wearing black because she wears so much of it. I threw out the idea of pink and Fernando was like: ‘What if we did black roses with it?’ Two hours later he sent me a couple of sketches, but the first one was that pink dress she wore with the cape—that first sketch is exactly what she wore. We spent the next month-and-a-half doing fittings and bringing it all to life.
The Oscar team is really beyond. They showed up with 15 colors of pink fabric and got right in touch with Barbra Scott, who does preserved flowers. At the second fitting, we had boxes and boxes of 10 different types of flowers dyed and placed perfectly. The night before the Met, the Oscar team also showed up with a full dress with embroidered black flowers on the bust just in case we weren’t feeling 100% confident that the real flowers would survive or that they’d fall apart. They had their bases covered.”
I have written several articles about Oscar de la Renta‘s team and what you can gather is that they go above and beyond for their clients and they’re truly invested in making people value their talent and efforts to deliver the best results.
The Black actress accessorized the look with a black Oscar de la Renta ‘Tro‘ bag, Christian Louboutin open toe heels and Tacori jewels worth $356,240 in just rings and earrings alone (according to E! Online).
The makeup was inspired by Audrey Hepburn–Zoë talked about it in an Elle interview in which she commented her most memorable beauty looks a year later: “At the Met Gala, we were really inspired by Audrey Hepburn for this look: the brows and the shape of the eye. We kind of went for a classic Hollywood thing. The Oscar de La Renta gown was so beautiful so we went for a girlier, peach-y, pink-y lip.”
Manicurist Casey Herman achieved Zoë‘s nude nails using one coat of Essie nail polish in the shade ‘Hold The Position‘ Gel Couture, two coats of ‘Fairy Tailor‘ and finished everything off with a top coat. Herman also mentioned a La Prairie Skin Caviar cream that she used to hydrate the hands (but she didn’t specify the exact type).
