The same old bird?

Anna Wintour in Chanel vs Anna Wintour in Chanel. Photos: Getty Images

On any red carpet, it is bad enough to wear the same dress from a previous red carpet. What do you call putting on an identical version of a dress worn before? A re-wear may show that you are frugal or not wasteful, but a stylistic stasis is a confession that your style has reached its terminal velocity and decided to simply circle the longkang (drain) in a slightly different shade of marabou. To wear the same silhouette twice isn’t archival; it’s an admission that you’ve found a comfort zone and intend to colonise it until even the paparazzi lose interest. It transforms a red carpet moment into a restock notification. And that was Anna Wintour in Chanel this Met Gala evening, a pouf of perfection.

Only thing is the perfection is a repeat attempt, which as a comeback, is not that flawless at all. Ms Wintour was probably operating under the impression that we’re either goldfish or doormats—it’s unclear which. In 2019, for the Camp: Notes on Fashion red carpet, she wore the pink thing (picture, right) and this year, she dons the green grief, falling back on her Chanel feathers like a security blanket. But she’s not just another guest. She’s the editorial authority of the night. When she repeats herself, it undermines the whole premise of the Gala as a showcase of reinvention and risk. The outfit, as a loud echo of her 2019 Camp moment, proved that while time may march on, her creative evolution has evidently decided to stage a protest against the concept of growth by simply hitting refresh on an old mood board. Sartorial laziness is a dereliction of duty.

Recycling a 2019 silhouette with a fresh dip in dye isn’t quite design, but institutional autopilot. Clearly, Ms Wintour prefers to look like the eternal mother hen that she no doubt is on “fashion’s biggest night out” than to embrace the messy, exhilarating work of actually inviting and embracing creative risk. If, as she likes us to believe, Fashion is Art, then Anna Wintour’s choice was more like asking Chanel to trace the old sketch made for her than drawing something new. For someone who demands innovation from designers and celebrities, it’s rather hypocritical to recycle her own safe formula. It is truly a special kind of irony: demanding a revolution from the guests while she’s still out there serving colour-swapped leftovers from seven years ago.