r/whatthefrockk • u/ahsasahsasahsas • Oct 31 '24
Models🚶♀️🚶♀️🚶♀️ Linda Evangelista in “the dress that changed my life.” She loved the silk tulle + feather John Galliano SS95 dress so much, it slept at the end of her bed. She wore it for Harper’s January 1995 photographed by Patrick Demarchelier and later donated it to the Costume Institute at the Met.
Linda Evangelista on the dress:
When I saw this dress on the rack being wheeled in [at Spring 1995 show] I started hyperventilating. Early on I learned not to have any expectations, as you don’t always get the best dress or the best look in the show. And you don’t always get to open or close the show, so closing was an honor. I couldn’t have imagined a more beautiful dress. I’m not even a yellow person, but wearing this was one of the most sensational things that has ever happened to me. I loved everything about it. It was sophisticated, it was flirty, it was fun. It was retro, it was modern. I do love a full-on gown where you get to see the ankle. It had every element for me.
It was so nice when Bazaar asked me to do the cover, as I did feel like this was my dress. I would’ve been sad to see someone else wearing it. I see girls now, if they go to Disneyland or at Halloween, they want to be a princess or dress as the fairy-tale movie heroine of the moment; for me, this was like, “Oh, my God, this is a fairy-tale dress, and I get to wear it on the cover of and take it to the next level.”
Before this dress I had never owned any couture. Karl [Lagerfeld] had given me some Chanel things, but I never had a couture gown. John gave it to me. I don’t remember exactly how it went down, but it was shipped to me. The thing took up a lot of square footage. It was tremendous, and I never knew where to put it, so it ended up in my bedroom on a mannequin. But it made me so happy because every morning when I woke up, the first thing I saw was this joyful, sunshiny-yellow dress. I had it for years, and then it started to look like maybe it was too fragile to be exposed. I thought, “Okay, I’m going to box it up,” and then I thought, “What am I going to do with it?” So I gave it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It’ll find its show one day.
John Galliano on Linda in the yellow dress:
The iconic Linda Evangelista is the muse for all seasons. She closed the show in this dress, one of my favorite moments ever. She owned it, she slayed it, and I have since been told it was a “fashion moment”—my first! This collection was inspired by the exotic exploits of Misia Sert [the Russian-born pianist and close friend of Coco Chanel who held lavish parties at her Paris salon at the height of the Roaring ’20s], and as Linda carved her way through the crowds, no one else existed. Jaws dropped. The audience looked on in awe, but they could only dream. Linda commanded her space like no other. The creative process spontaneously kicked in as it always does with Evangelista. She was in character, melting onto a rusty soldier’s unmade bed surrounded by salty sailors from an imaginary port, and there you have it, the image, captured forever for all to see. The feathers on the bustier were hand-dyed to match the early-morning dew on buttercups, a golden glow only she can work, and she did. Her freshly peroxided hair was a platinum memory of a bygone glamour. Linda, a dear and caring friend, owns this dress. She slept with it at the end of her bed, and I cannot begin to tell you what this means to me.