Fabulous Archival Fashion is a Rarity
- Anna Cox
- Apr 7, 2024
- 4 min read
A landmark of a fashion icon is their access to iconic pieces. Whether it’s fresh off the runway or custom, celebrities that have close relationships with designers have access to the trendiest pieces, but new pieces are not the only way to model runway fashion on the red carpet. In fact, it is almost more impressive when a celebrity wears a piece from the archives of a renowned designer.
A surge in archival fashion has taken place in Hollywood as the fascination with vintage fashion has taken over Gen Z minds. A-listers from Zendaya to Margot Robbie have been wearing mostly archival fashion for events, and while it is nice to see celebrities appreciate fashion of the past, the piece is sometimes wearing them instead of the other way around.
It seems that celebrity stylists have the idea that just putting their client in an iconic runway outfit of the past is enough for them to make any best dressed lists, but the piece is only part of the equation. Most of the archival pieces that these celebrities are wearing need more styling put into them to do the outfit justice. Have celebrity stylists gotten lazy? Do they really think that putting their client in an archival Versace dress while having no accessories or hair styling is enough? That seems to be the case.
One of the worst offenders of this is Olivia Rodrigo. The popstar’s styling on red carpets is very hit or miss. It is almost expected that she'll be in an amazingly beautiful gown with natural makeup and loose waves in her hair. At the most recent Grammy Awards, she seemed to try and change it up a bit, with a voluminous side part and a red lip while she wore archival Versace. But, it still didn’t feel like a proper reference to the gown, worn on the runway by Lydia Evangelista for the brand's Spring 1995 collection. Rodrigo, who looked stunning in the dress, didn’t bring anything new to the garment. In fact, many noted that the dress seemed to be “wearing her” instead of her wearing it.
If a celebrity isn’t going to do much extra styling to an archival gown, the garment itself needs to be interesting enough to stand alone as an outfit. The best example of this at the 2024 Grammys was Caroline Polachek. The “Pretty in Possible” singer wore a black gown with red lace and red blood vessel embroidery from Olivier Theyskens Fall 1998 collection. The dress itself, along with most Theyskens designs, plays into surrealism and tells a story with the designer details. Polachek wore simple makeup and her dark hair pin straight. This is because of the theatricality of the dress. Her simple approach works for this piece because of how intricate it is. This makeup and hair styling would not work for a simple gown.
Another recent moment in fashion that breeds the laziest uses of archival fashion is the Met Gala. There are two outfits worn to the Met Gala that are the perfect example of just wearing the garment and not doing anything else. The first is Lily Rose Depp’s take on “camp” at the 2019 Met Gala. The theme was entitled “Camp: Notes on Fashion,” which expected the attendees to dress in garish and ironic fashion. Depp’s take was nothing of the sort, with the actress opting for a Chanel Haute Couture Spring 1992 gown, originally modeled by Christy Turlington. While the dress fits like a glove and it's truly an iconic moment in red carpet fashion for the online obsession over the look, it is not by any means an amazing attempt at archival fashion. She simply wears her usual natural, smoky makeup and her hair slightly curled. Also, it did not go with the theme of the event at all, which makes it a lackluster attempt at archival fashion. Especially because the original styling of the dress included an amazing feather head piece that would’ve made the outfit much more interesting and on theme.
The next Met Gala look that truly was a disappointment was Dua Lipa’s look from the 2023 Gala, where the theme was “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty.” While the theme served as a breeding ground for boring takes on archival looks that the late designer worked on, Lipa’s truly was the most lackluster. The British pop star wore Chanel Haute Couture from 1992, originally worn by Karl Lagerfeld’s muse, Claudia Schiffer. The dress is one of the most well known of Lagerfeld’s designs, as it was the closing bridal gown of the show. The original outfit saw Schiffer in a legendary matching head piece, but Lipa, similar to Depp, decided to omit the headpiece. Instead, she wore her hair down her back in loose curls, arguably a more simple and, dare I say, “boring” choice. At least she added jewelry to the look, unlike a lot of celebrities these days.
When talking about great uses of archival fashion, it would be criminal not to mention Zendaya. The “Euphoria” actress wears a mix of fresh off the runway and vintage looks, but she never fails to make the looks her own. Some of her most iconic red carpet looks are her archival pieces from high fashion brands like Versace and Schiaparelli. In fact, a certain Robert Cavalli look that she wore to the Ballon D'Or in 2021 stands out as a great use of archival fashion. The dress had gold hardware on the back resembling a spinal cord with lobster claws, arguably a bold choice. The original look saw the model with her hair down in movie star curls and no jewelry. Zendaya opted for an updo to accentuate the backside of the dress and thick gold hoops to match the hardwear. Zendaya is truly the face of archival fashion.
With the 2024 Met Gala being just around the corner, and the theme being “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” it will be interesting to see the interpretations that celebrities come up with. Considering this theme is all about garments that are too delicate to be reworn and appreciating vintage fashion, the event will have its fair share of great uses of archival fashion and uses that put people to sleep.
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