Feat! -- Daphne Guinness in Alexander McQueen, 2011 Guinness literally made an event out of her getting ready for the ball and it payed off with a fitting and flawless tribute to the designer whose "Savage Beauty" was just beginning its historic run.

Fail! -- Madonna in Louis Vuitton, 2009 Louis Vuitton had a banner year in 2009 for providing the worst looks per celeb capita than any other brand, but Madonna's woefully mistaken, thigh-highed misstep best represents the entire lot.

Feat! -- Kate Moss in Marc Jacobs, 2009 Marc Jacobs did better by his girl Kate Moss, however, and the two were the clear belles of the ball. Crafty, crafty, crafty.

Fail! -- Katie Holmes in Giorgio Armani, 2008 While everything is wrong with this look -- the makeup, the bob, the dress, the shoes, the necklace, the shoulder purse in the shape of Tom Cruise -- Katie tried to pawn off responsibility on the blue pumps to her daughter Suri, whom she claimed picked them out. Based on Suri's exquisite taste, I highly doubt it.

Feat! -- Anna Wintour in Chanel Haute Couture, 2008 A controversial choice, I know, but hear me out. Anna Wintour so often goes the very safe and classically chic route, but for the Met's "Superheroes" exhibit, the editrix showed a whiff of whimsy by way of Wonder Woman. However, never one to not keep it real, note that she's still in Chanel and it's still haute couture.

Fail! -- Serena Williams in Oscar de la Renta, 2011 I'll preface this by saying the Royal Wedding had recently happened at this point, so fascinators were just beginning their ascent into the pop culture atmosphere. Williams opted for the burgeoning trend, thus sending this outfit into costume, not Costume Institute, territory.

Feat! -- Gisele in Versace, 2008 Gisele came to the ball in 2008 for one reason and one reason alone: to serve sex on a platter and have the world take a good long taste. So what better dressing than Versace and its history of jaw-droppers?

Fail! -- Shalom Harlow in Bob Mackie, 2009 Sure it looks like Shalom Harlow just rolled out of the dumpster and into a mutated Hefty bag, but dammit she's committed to it and for that I say, "Respect."

Feat! -- André Leon Talley being escorted by Alber Elbaz, 2007 I'm assuming this cape was by ALT's go-to haberdasher Chado Ralph Rucci, but if I'm mistaken who cares because this scene is all one needs to know about the Met Gala. Or anything.

Fail! -- Christina Hendricks in L'Wrenn Scott, 2010 Christina Hendricks has the best kind of problem because of her, shall we say, ample assets. You know, her giant cans. Therefore it's hard to find a dress that accentuates without advertising and the girls are on a mutli-season campaign in this number. But at least they serve as a distraction from whatever's happening with the hair and makeup.

- Tan Mom may well be the best thing to come out of New Jersey since…well, my mind’s gone blank on that front. While discretely hiding the box of Franzia in her handbag, Patricia Krentcil lashed out at those who accused her of taking her 5-year-old daughter into a tanning salon, saying that “they’re jealous, they’re fat and they’re ugly.” [Jezebel]

- 90-year-old fashion icon Iris Apfel is launching a collection of handbags this fall that may or may not have been inspired by the Muppets. [Refinery29]

- Just when you thought Paco Rabanne stood a chance at a comeback, its new artistic director Manish Arora has up and left after just two seasons. [The Cut]

- Julia Restoin-Roitfeld jumped on the neverending naked pregnancy photo bandwagon, but with a chic and irreverent twist worthy of a Roitfeld, on the cover of i-D. [Huff Po]

- Beyoncé is winning a writing award and shockingly it’s not for this. Even more shocking, Beyoncé’s winning a writing award. [NYDN]

Schiaparelli managed to turn fashion into an art form with innovative designs and concepts such as creating a jacket with plastic hands in place of buttons. Schiap’s forward-thinking approach to design caused her rival Gabrielle Chanel to deride her as “that Italian artist who makes clothes.” Sounds like someone was totes jealz.

Throughout the twenties and thirties, Schiap was friends with several Surrealist artists including Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp and Jean Cocteau, but it was Dalí who would have the greatest influence on her.

He would also have an influence on Coco Chanel as the two allegedly had an affair while Dalí  was still married. Yeah, someone was super jealz.

Elsa Schiaparelli’s career in and influence on fashion will be highlighted this summer when Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada: On Fashion debuts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. But until then, here’s how Schiap and Dalí changed the face of fashion.

In 1936, inspired by Dalí's painting Anthropomorphic Cabinet, the two created suits and jackets with bureau-drawers as pockets.

Then in 1937, their "Lobster dress," featuring -- you guessed it -- a giant red lobster painted onto a white silk gown was made famous when Cecil Beaton photographed noted homewrecker Wallis Simpson in it for Vogue.

Inspired by a photo of Dalí balancing his wife's slipper on his head, that same year saw the debut of the infamous "Shoe Hat," a black felt number in the shape of a woman's pump with a heel in Shocking Pink -- another Schiaparelli innovation.

Dalí designed a trompe l'oeil print for an evening gown that simulated torn flesh in 1938. The "Tears Dress" also had actual tears strategically cut out to reveal an illusion of fur on the reverse side.

Utilizing trapunto quilting -- a puffy, decorative form of embroidery -- to create padded ribs, spine and leg bones, Schiap and Dalí struck again with the "Skeleton Dress," a highlight of her 1938 circus-themed collection.

Shoe Hats off to ya!

“Miuccia Prada is honoured and proud to take part in this exhibition which is ‘an impossible’ conversation between Miuccia Prada and Elsa Schiaparelli,” a brand spokesperson said. ”The comments printed are taken out of context and therefore misconstrued. Mrs. Prada confirmed that she admires the total curatorial independence of the museum to the extent that they almost did not take into consideration her vision.”

Yeah, it’s totally plausible that “I told them, but they don’t care” was a funny aside said with a self-deprecating chuckle and a playful roll of the eyes. And it’s totally plausible that after making these “out of context” statements, Miuccia went around slapping every underling that dared to even breathe in her general direction, which — when taken out of context — seems like a violent outburst but is really just a little thing the house of Prada does for kicks. [Vogue UK]

Sarah Burton in Vogue UK / Photo: StyleFrizz

Burton told her mum and dad about the commission the night before the ceremony and they saw the dress the same time as everyone else in the world, at an ungodly hour on the morning of April 29th. Only Burton’s core team of designers knew about the now iconic dress in the making. Since it was only days after the royal wedding, Burton cleverly used the Metropolitan Museum of Art‘s Savage Beauty exhibit as a cover to explain away her frequent missed appointments.

Finally, on the big day, Burton accompanied Catherine to Westminster Abbey to put the finishing touches on the dress’ nine-foot train: “I remember standing in Westminster Abbey thinking, ‘This is unreal’. It was like a fairy tale. And all I could think was, ‘I hope I don’t trip over’. I didn’t realise the enormity of it until much nearer the wedding day. It was a magical experience.”

It’s been a banner year for Burton, what with the dress, the Met exhibit and widely-acclaimed collections for the design house. Filling the late Alexander McQueen’s shoes, she more than met the expectations of the role, but Burton admitted she had her doubts: ”I definitely considered not taking this job. I was at such a loss, he was such a huge part of my life, my every day. I could finish his sentences but I didn’t know that I could begin anything, and that terrified me.”

She sees her success as a final “gift” from McQueen and notes that, “Out of such terrible, tragic times and from under this dark cloud came that dress.” [Telegraph]

Sarah Burton in Vogue UK / Photo: StyleFrizz

Tapping his considerable resources, ALT has secured a gown worn by Oscar-winner Penélope Cruz to a Met Costume Institute Gala from Oscar de la Renta; a black  sequined wrap dress from Diane von Furstenberg; a coat trimmed with feathers and plastic fringe from Prada‘s fall 2007 collection; an evening column — what other kind of column is there? — from Tom Ford‘s first eponymous women’s collection; and a pair of blue satin Manolo Blahnik shoes from Sex and the City: The Movie.

In addition, the exhibit will include a video display showing Blahnik making milkshakes on The Martha Stewart Show, music from 2001: A Space Odyssey in the background and either Oscar de la Renta’s Live in Love or DVF’s Diane “wafting through the ventilation system.” But if you can’t make it down to Georgia for this multi-sensory experience, fret not. In December, Talley’s and de la Renta’s Joaquín Sorolla and the Glory of Spanish Dress will open at Manhattan’s Queen Sofia Spanish Institute.

And of course there’s always next year when you can apply for admission to ALTCADOYPF. [NYT]

On New York:

“I love London and Paris; they’re very sophisticated, but not like New York. If you can’t find it in New York, it doesn’t exist.”

On New York in the 50s:

“It was fabulous then, everyone looked beautiful.”

On New York today:

“Now when I walk down Fifth Avenue in the summertime I just want to throw up. It seems that the fatter and uglier people are, the fewer clothes they wear. The shorts and flip-flops and tight jeans on butts that go from here to Poughkeepsie. I always say they should put people in jail for wearing clothes like that. Especially stretch jeans over size 10 — they should be outlawed. Ten years ago people were starting to look like slobs in New York, now it’s an epidemic.”

On London style:

“I haven’t been in London for some years but the last time I was there they looked fuddy-duddy and school-marmish, yes, but not slobby. And then there are the wonderful eccentrics like the kids on Carnaby Street or the punks or whatever the heck they are.”

On meeting Duke Ellington:

“The Duke couldn’t have been nicer and said he’d introduce me to all the greats in Chicago. My mother was very dubious, so I told her, ‘He’s the most elegant gentleman.’ She said, ‘I don’t give a damn how elegant he is, you’re not going to Chicago.’ But I did.”

On dieting:

“I used to smoke like a fiend. I smoked four packs a day. I never do anything half-arsed, shall we say, but I stopped because I felt I was getting to be an addict. I’ve got very good willpower.”

On being asked to be Lindsay’s style guru:

“I can’t tell people how to have style. No amount of money can buy you style. It’s just instinctive.”

On her 2005 exhibit at The Met:

‘It didn’t start out as a fashion show, but he [Harold Koda, curator of the Costume Institute] decided that to show accessories out of context didn’t make much sense so he asked if I could spare maybe five outfits… I said yes, so they went through all my closets, all the drawers, all the boxes, all the armoires, under the bed, everywhere and they go woowoowoooo [she flaps her arms up and down]. Finally they ended up with 82 outfits. It was insanity but the show was such a big smash.”

On her signature glasses:

“When I needed to wear glasses, I decided I’d wear glasses. All the better to see you with.’”

On kids these days:

“Most of the young people today look dreadful.”

On stars these days:

“And celebrities look even worse. They don’t know what to do with themselves. At the Golden Globes and Oscars they all look alike – it seems like they’re all wearing the same nightgown and this year nobody had any jewellery at all. Only Helen Mirren was wearing a beautiful necklace, but even she got it wrong because the necklace just ruined the dress. I think the designer must have wanted to kill himself when he saw her.”

On throwing shade:

“It’s a free country — if you want to look like a freak, that’s your problem.”

By juxtaposing Schiaparelli’s and Prada’s viewpoints on these topics, museum curators Andrew Bolton and Harold Koda hope to create a dialogue between the designers:

“If we can play with that idea of what Schiap would say, with her real words, and what Miuccia would say, in her real words, on a variety of issues,” Koda explained, “we could end up with something that was a mind-teaser for the audience, and would allow people to see Schiap with increased relevance and Miuccia with a different kind of understanding than they perhaps already have. We want it to be serious in content but playful in its approach.”

This approach will certainly be playful considering who the Met has in charge of the production and design: no other than that master of the spectacular spectacle, Baz Luhrmann. According to Koda, the exhibit will have “a very high-tech aspect” so as to bring the past to life.

On Fashion will run from May 10th to Aug, 19th and will include some 80 designs by Schiaparelli from the late Twenties through the early Fifties and by Prada from the late Eighties through today. The annual Gala — my ticket to which is clearly already be in the mail — will be chaired by Anna Wintour, Miuccia herself and Carey Mulligan — a Prada and Vogue fave as well as the star of Luhrmann’s upcoming adaptation of The Great Gatsby. Hello, multi-brand tie-in.

Amazon.com, who along with Condé Nast is underwriting the exhibit, will serve as the Gala’s honorary chair. [WWD, sub req'd]

Photos: WWD

Elsa Schiaparelli

Miuccia Prada

A Schiaparalli gown

Prada Fall 2007

A Schiaparelli dress from 1937

Prada Spring 2008

Photo: WWD

Reminiscent of his work for Savage Beauty at The Met, Palau nonetheless thought that “[t]he idea seemed quite extreme, but it’s actually very pretty.” You say pretty, Guido, we say STUNNSIES.

Miuccia Prada and Elsa Schiaparelli are reportedly the focus of the Costume Institute’s next exhibit in the spring. Schiaparelli, who is as important to Italian fashion as Gabrielle Chanel is to French fashion, had a groundbreaking and innovative line between the two world wars but was unable to adapt in the wake of Christian Dior’s New Look.

While Prada is obviously one of the most successful and influential women working in fashion today and is also of Italian descent. No doubt the Institute’s curator, Andrew Bolton, will draw some parallels between the two women’s lives and careers. But for now, the Met is remaining mum on the matter. [WWD]

NEW YORK

- The Wall Street Journal called in an expert to explain why Linda Evangelista‘s son needs $46,000 a month from his father, billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault-Hayek. Turns out young Augustin James is ballin’ out of control. [The Cut]

- A report that Jay-Z bought Billionaire Boys Club – Pharrell‘s clothing line — have been refuted by Jigga himself, who claims he’s only “partnering” with the Neptune. [GQ]

Savage Beauty is on track to supersede Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy, which set the attendance record for a fashion exhibition when it bowed to 576,000 guests back in 2008. Meanwhile, McQueen has been breaking records since it opened in early May, becoming the museum’s second biggest opening in history, behind Vincent Van Gogh’s The Drawings.

Several factors are attributed to Savage Beauty’s triumphant run: the wedding dress designed by Sarah Burton for Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge; the insufferable heat; a booming tourist season. But most important is the exhibit’s mass appeal. Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty manages to transcend fashion while standing alone as a testament to a great artist and his incredible legacy.

As Edward Murguia, a 67-year old sociology professor from Texas A&M University — perhaps the last person you’d expect to find at a retrospective for a British designer who hanged himself over a year ago — observed: “You take a medium like fashion that you don’t think is going to have that much depth, and then you find that it does…I could never imagine how much he got done in such a short life.” [NYT]

Hailee Steinfeld

- Three of young Hollywood’s best, brightest and fiercest get LOVE‘d by Mert and Marcus: Hailee Steinfeld, Elle Fanning and Chloe Moretz grace the mag’s Issue No. 6. [Models.com]

Gaga took to Facebook last night to tell all her Monsters what Fashion of His Love is truly about.

One of the more literal lyrics include: “I’m physically crafted to be as fitting as McQueen.” The song proves to be a little more than another electro pop love anthem,

The fashion house has gone from haute couture to household name in a mere year, with help from a diverse range of celebrity faces including Naomi Campbell, Lady Gaga, and most recently, Kate Middleton.

The new head of the fashion house, Sarah Burton, has done an unabashedly good job of pairing McQueen’s unique whimsy with a shrewd business sense, and this new venture is sure to be a successful one.  Plus, FashionIndie would never pass up a possibility for turbans!

Link Love:

http://www.styleite.com/media/alexander-mcqueen-scarves/

Since its record-breaking opening day, over 150,000 people have seen Savage Beauty, resulting in lines, crowds and kilt-tearing. But starting Monday, June 6th, it will be even easier to go on McQueen’s Magical Mystery Tour.

“Met Mondays with McQueen” will allow visitors –  for $50 — access to the exhibit between 9:30 am and 2:30 pm when the rest of the museum is closed. It would kind of be like Night at the Museum but if Ben Stiller was played by Daphne Guinness and instead of dinosaurs, the mannequins came to life and started catwalking.

Meanwhile, I smell a sequel…. [WWD]

1. Booze. Let’s be real, if shit’s going down tomorrow, I’m going out in a vodka-soaked blaze of glory.

2. At least one piece of McQueen’s Savage Beauty. Yes I am breaking into The Met and yes I am wearing this gold duck feather coat out.

3. Egoïste. Because I need to see a Louis Vuitton-attired polar bear taking in an Al Gore lecture on global warming before I die. That happened.

4. These post-Apocalyptic video looks from Beyoncé’s “Run the World (Girls)”:

Photo: NY Mag

And Lady Gaga‘s “Judas”:

Photo: Nicola Formichetti's Blog!!

5. Oprah. I know this is short notice with the world ending tomorrow and all, but I really think Oprah and I should be together since I’ve recently adopted her as my mother. She’s not really aware of it.

6. Violent Lips. Sometimes a girl needs to look fierce and really this isn’t the time to slack off with boring old jungle red or whatever signature color you use. Give me a hot pink leopard lip and call it a day/year/life.

7. Made in Brazil #3.

Boom:

Photo: Models.com

Nuff said.

8. Angelina Jolie’s Atelier Versace gown from Cannes. I love a good statement-making gown when the skies open up; and this gown will say, “Excuse me, stop what you’re doing. I get it…but I’m in the room.”

9. A pair of Louboutins I lifted from FI‘s Editor-in-Chief Sam Lim. Barring the fact that I’m about six shoe sizes bigger than she is, Sam’s long hours in the line at the Christian Louboutin sample sale should be celebrated. Celebrated with a unbearably painful walk-off.

10. Fashion Indie’s Mixtape Vol. 3. If we’re all still here next week you can get a listen for yourself, but I’ve already got my copy and will be dancing till the world ends.

Speaking of Britney, I forgot to include drugs — last minute shopping …literally!

Photo: Nicola Formichetti's Blog!!

The masks, crafted from leather, jewels, burlap, lace, felt, fur and feathers, were meant to compliment the extraordinary pieces without overpowering them — if that’s even at all possible.

Palau wanted to do right by the late designer for whose shows hair was “always an important part.” Finally, a Guido you can be proud of. [NYT]

- And not at all coincidentally, Anna Wintour is now a museum board member.

- Gisele is the most super supermodel in the world and future supers can only pale in their already pale comparisons.

- Isabella Blow‘s posthumous wardrobe will live on thanks to Daphne Guinness and a generous, completely justifiable use of the Guinness fortune.

- Hindu’s were up in arms — all 4 of them! — over a swimsuit bearing the goddess Lakshmi.

- The Schwarzenegger-Shrivers are now sans a hyphen (okay, it was never there) and a  marriage (nor was that).

- A fashion mag so rare you might be dead before it comes out again. Particularly since the world is ending any day now.

- Get your library cards out, Gaga wants to talk about…reading.

- This June John Galliano will be spelling couture : C-O-U-R-T…cause that’s where he’s going…court.

- Like that great poet — what was his name, oh yes, Biggie Smalls — once said, “Mo Money, Mo Problems.” Those problems just involve cutting back on the Birkin allowance.

Wintour has been an honorary trustee of the Met since 1999 and has co-chaired 13 benefits since 1995. In those 16 years, she has raised approximately $85 million for the Costume Institute with last week’s Met Gala pulling in $10.4 million.

In addition, the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibit has proven wildly popular so it was inevitable that the Met would eventually have to sell its soul give credit where credit is due. [WWD]

With 5,100 visitors on May 4th, Savage Beauty is the second biggest opening day in the Metropolitan Museum of Art‘s history. But what’s number one? That earless showboat, Vincent Van Gogh, whose Vincent Van Gogh: The Drawings drew in 5,400 people in 2005.

Nevertheless, the McQueen exhibit proved so popular the Met had to suspend its guided tours. The museum also sold 600 catalogs and at $45 a pop, Vincent Can Gogh suck on that. [NYT]

- With the Met Gala, the Fashion World’s Oscars only a few hours away, what better way to celebrate (especially if your invitation was lost in the mail like mine, I’m assuming, was), then to take a stroll down memory lane of the Costume Institute‘s patron saint, Anna Wintour‘s ball looks over the years. Time had the unmitigated gaul to name Vogue‘s editrix the worst-dressed of the year for her Chanel Couture from 2008′s Superheroes exhibit, but hopefully whoever had the cheek to write that is hanging by his/her nipples in a dungeon in France somewhere. Where they belong. [Fashionologie]

- J. Crew‘s new catalog features employees modeling their clothes, including openly gay designer “Somsack” and his boyfriend “Micah,” that for some reason is deemed “explicit.” Dear “Straight” World, the gays date and wear clothes. That is when we’re not secretly plotting against the moral fiber of America and recruiting your children to our degenerate way of life. Actually, you know what, we can do both since our people are natural multi-taskers. — Love, The Gays [Refinery29]

- New W Fashion and Style Director, Edward Enninful describes his vision for the mag as thus: “I want editorial to be filled with ideas. It’s very important to capture the mood of the collections and bring narrative onto the pages. It’s also very important to be forward-thinking but remain wearable. We should project what’s going to come, take from the past and bring something new, and document what’s around now.” That means practically nothing to me, but I’m hoping it will translate into tons of black models and couture out the wazoo. [Style File]

- Professional jailbird Lindsay Lohan still somehow manages to find work, this time giving face on the cover of Blank, photographed by Steven Gomillion and Dennis Leupold. I’m holding out hope for a jailhouse photoshoot during the four months she’ll be locked up. [DesignScene]

- Cool-kids-about-town and adorable design duo, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler are starting their own costume jewelry line, set to launch during the pre-collection season. I’m assuming this won’t be Claire’s-level bobbles but I wouldn’t mind a PS tribal beaded necklace bunch. [WWD]

- Joining La Jolie on the Do-Good Express is great-caped crusader André Leon Talley who describes his efforts thusly: “I do make trips to the Dumpster. And I am proud of that because it’s far from my house. But I make a special effort to go to the Dumpster and put the cardboard with the cardboard, and plastic with the plastics.” Mother Teresa who? [The Cut]

- Supermodels just can’t keep it in their pants these days. And by it I mean their nuptials. Anja Rubik will be the next catwalker to jump the broom and, in typical model fashion, will wear Pucci when she marries longtime boyfriend Sasha Knezevic in July. [Fashionologie]

- The Black Eyed Peas have finally realized what I’ve been saying for years: “My Humps” is a god awful song. [The Boombox]

- Libyan president and noted fashion plate Muammar Gadaffi apparently wants his own exhibit at the Met’s Costume Institute. Muammar Gaddafi: Savage Beauty? [Styleite]

- Dior will debut a few dresses from its upcoming couture and/or Spring 2012 collections at the Cannes Film Festival when French actress Melanie Laurent wears the iconic label to the fest’s opening and closing ceremonies. [Elle]

The Superheroes have arrived at the MET.

I’m heading there tomorrow, but I got a special preview of the event from the likes of The New York Times (photos in the Gallery).

Original costumes from Spiderman, X-Men and Iron Man are on display along with original works of fashion art from Alexander McQueen, Moschino, and Giorgio Armani. Two of my favorite things are together for the first time ever. I could ravage Anna Wintour right now. Shit, I think I wet myself.

Be sure to hit up the exhibit pronto. I might get arrested for trying to steal some items tomorrow, but if I can get into the Iron Man suit quick enough I should be able to blast past security and steal Mystique body suit from X-men to enjoy a superhuman rendezvous later in the evening. Seriously, these are the thoughts that run through my head during the day. I know. I need help

Iron Man at the Met

Iron Man at the MET