Nicole Kidman stepped out on the 2023 Met Gala beige carpet with an unexpected fashion statement about the viability of sustainable fashion by rewearing her iconic Karl Lagerfeld designed Chanel gown from her 2004 commercial No.5 The Film.
In 2004, Kidman and Australian director Baz Luhrmann made history with their short film disguised as an advertisement for Chanel’s iconic No.5 fragrance.
Rather than the perfume taking centre stage in the commercial, Lagerfeld’s trio of custom designs became the primary focus in Luhrmann’s dramatic film novella, which was reported to cost upwards of $33 million.
In the short film, Kidman appears as a jilted Hollywood starlet looking to escape the limelight. Running through Time Squares, the four meter-long train of her custom haute couture gown trailing behind her, pastel pink feathers flying around her.
She jumps into the cab, only to find Rodrigo Santoro, encasing the pair in her silk tulle gown in the back of the quintessential New York big yellow taxi.
So, almost two decades later, for Kidman to be reprising the museum-worthy gown at another intrinsically Manhattan evening, the Oscar winner is clearly proving why haute couture creations are so pertinent.
It’s by no means a small feat to have preserved this gown, which features over 250 pink feathers and over 3000 silver crystals and sequins. As Kidman described on the red carpet, Lagerfeld’s “concoction” is evidence of how “these couture gowns will last.”
“To be able to honor him and wear this dress now for Chanel and show the way these couture gowns last and the exquisiteness,” Kidman explained.
“If you take care of them and love them, they are timeless. To be able to wear the same thing almost 20 years later and it still holds because there’s whimsy to it and it’s light as a feather… it’s couture, as it should be.
“Right now, to celebrate the history of fashion and they way in which we need the beautiful work that goes into it is what I love. It’s an art form.”
As Kidman said in the film: “No one can steal our dream.”
