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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER FROM ANDREA BATILLA

CAN I BORROW YOUR OUTFIT?

The second season of this newsletter officially begins under the banner of nonsense. The spectacular stage for an episode that unleashed every kind of speculation on the internet was the 82nd Venice International Film Festival. Julia Roberts, starring in Luca Guadagnino’s After The Hunt, and Amanda Seyfried, there to present Mona Fastvold’s The Testament of Ann Lee, appeared one after the other in the same Versace look designed by Dario Vitale.
The idea that Seyfried asked her stylist to get the same look as Roberts is highly unlikely. It was a blue jacket, a striped shirt and a pair of jeans, not exactly a unique collector’s piece.
Why this choice prompted commentators around the world to formulate all kinds of theories is something we will probably never know. Nor do I think it is actually very interesting.

What is worth observing instead is how in fashion the anecdote has overtaken the story, how only gossip manages to spark interest in an industry that seems to speak only to itself, and how tactics have replaced strategies, with more energy poured into a red carpet than into everything else.

When Tyrone Power married Linda Christian at the Church of Santa Francesca Romana on January 28, 1949, the Fontana sisters who created the bride’s gown instantly became famous worldwide, launching their stellar career. According to the Smithsonian Institute, the chartreuse gown worn by Nicole Kidman on the 1997 Oscars red carpet consecrated both her as an actress and Galliano as Dior’s designer in the eyes of the massive audience that witnessed the event live.

Designers and brands have always needed to ignite popular interest in their work through celebrities, but lately this is no longer a piece of the narrative. It has become the narrative itself.
If Jonathan Anderson believes it is crucial to dress Alba Rohrwacher in a piece from his debut Dior collection that no one has seen yet, it means that the possibility his vision may be fragmented, overlooked or mistaken for something else does not matter.