In: Transgressive Halloween Costumes

Skip the sexy costumes and go for something subversive for Halloween, says W's Editor in Chief Stefano Tonchi. View this email in your browser Wednesday, October 25th, 2017 “It's as much fun to scare as to be scared.” - Vincent Price Subversive Halloween Halloween is this weekend. Usually there are two schools of thought about this sacred American holiday: sexy or scary. How about…neither? Margot Robbie was right when she pointed out in W’s November cover story that “slutty costumes” are out, a vestige of a past that is hopefully coming to a close with the downfall of Harvey Weinstein. Why not instead turn these conventions on their head? Don’t go sexy, go transgressive—Robbie suggests letting the guys go as Harley Quinn (though Tonya Harding isn’t half-bad either) and she’ll dress up as the crazy characters usually reserved for men, like Alien, James Franco’s character from Spring Breakers (though Franco’s character in The Deuce isn’t a terrible idea either). For those of us in fashion who have big Halloween parties this weekend—Natalia Vodianova’s Fabulous Fund Fair and Allison Sarofim’s Rococo extravaganza—why not poke a little fun at ourselves? Channel the daddies from Balenciaga’s Spring 2018 menswear shows or a space alien in Gucci’s crystal body. Mix Rick Owens’s latest with The Handmaid’s Tale or Gosha Rubchinskiy and The Young Pope. If you’re feeling frisky, check out the genius Instagram account Siduations, which transforms fashion’s most meme-able moments. And as for a scary costume? You don’t have to look further than the White House. Kellyanne Conway’s "Yankee Doodle" costume from the inauguration was scarier than It. Gilbert & George Galleries bring out the big guns for their fall shows, and there’s a lot of important, quality work out there. But for sheer ingenuity and fun, there’s Gilbert & George, with shows on view all over the world. Gilbert Proesch and George Passmore have been the playful wits of the art world for so long, they can now be referred to as a brand, or “G&G,” as Gilbert put it to the Financial Times recently. In fact, have they ever been out? “The General Jungle or Carrying on Sculpting,” a series of 23 charcoal-on-paper “sculptures” at London’s Lévy Gorvy, makes the case that from their earliest days, the boys have been creating works for all, free of pretension or propriety. For “The Beard Pictures,” at Lehman Maupinn in New York—yes, I am slightly biased—G&G try on beards for size. There are pink beards, long beards, entangled beards, metaphorical beards, beards that conceal, and beards that are blessed. (The show also just opened at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Paris and will soon do so at White Cube in London, plus other European cities.) For all their work's humor, G&G's recent cycle speaks to the paranoia of our current political climate and once again underscores the incisive social commentary that has defined the duo since they met, 50 years ago. Augmented Jewels "Are they real?" That was the first question that came to mind as I walked through the Fifth Avenue flagship. The colors—aquamarine, emerald, mauve—were so bright, the combination of stones so intricate, from sapphires to rubies, that they strained the imagination. But of course they were real. They were Cartier. This was its High Jewelry collection, dubbed Résonances de Cartier, for the way light travels through gems and precious stones. For the past several years, jewelry houses have been quietly outdoing one another with their fine jewelry collections, coming up with bolder colors, rarer stones, bigger statement pieces. For a 170-year-old label like Cartier, there’s no such thing as a half-measure, and to showcase this collection, it didn’t just throw an extravagant party on Governors Island but also organized an exhibit that is devoted to its Haute Joaillerie and the craftsmanship behind it. Plus, the public is invited to experience the secrets of the Maison in an IRL, immersive experience. In many respects, the exhibit, which closes Sunday, reclaims Cartier’s place in history as a model of traditional artistry and creative innovation, while subtly underlining that the supercentenarian still has a few nifty tricks up its sleeve. Natalia Vodianova @natasupernova For an insider’s view of how a supermodel gets ready for Halloween, don’t look any further than Natalia Vodianova, who’ll be throwing one of the holiday’s biggest bashes. And, it’s a shindig for a good cause: Her Fabulous Fund Fair this year is partnering with amfAR. Katy Perry, 33 (She Roars) Ciara, 32 (She Body Parties) Nancy Cartwright, 60 (She’s Bart Simpson) If you received this email from a friend, Click here to subscribe This email was sent to you by wmagazine.com. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e–mail address, wmag@newsletters.wmagazine.com, to your address book. View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe Copyright © Condé Nast 2017. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10038. All rights reserved.