Latest news with #Givenchy
The Hill
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Hill
Clintons, Harris attend Hamptons wedding of Huma Abedin, Alex Soros
Huma Abedin, political strategist and former Hillary Clinton aide, dished the details of her Saturday wedding to philanthropist Alex Soros, the son of progressive billionaire George Soros, to Vogue. The couple's wedding, held at their home in Water Mill, N.Y., drew a crowd of political elites: Clinton, former President Clinton, former Vice President Harris and former second gentleman Doug Emhoff were among the attendees. Abedin told Vogue the pair originally planned to elope, but they changed their mind at an engagement party thrown by former first lady and secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Clinton, along with Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, urged the duo to hold a wedding celebration — and suggested a date. 'We got engaged with no plans to have a wedding,' Abedin told Vogue. 'We talked about hosting small dinners in different cities because we have close family and friends all over the world. But once we decided to have a wedding, or rather when we were instructed to have a wedding by Hillary and Anna [Wintour], who pulled out their calendars and suggested the date — despite Alex saying he was scheduled to be at a conference in Europe! — it was set.' Clinton and Wintour were involved in the planning process as well, Abedin said. 'Our first meeting was at my mother-in-law Susan's house with Hillary and Anna, and when all three asked me what I wanted, it was a surreal moment to have people who cared so much about making the day perfect for all our friends and family,' she told Vogue. Abedin wore a custom off-the-shoulder Givenchy gown to the Saturday nuptials, which were also attended by Chelsea Clinton, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), actress Jennifer Lawrence, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, actor Adrien Brody, supermodel Karlie Kloss, comedian Jimmy Fallon, financier James Rothschild and more. Hillary Clinton was among those who spoke at the reception. 'Hillary has been my mentor and role model for three decades,' Abedin said. 'Her loyalty, love, and support has been one of the greatest gifts in my life. She insisted we have this wedding and to let people celebrate us. Whenever anything went awry in the planning process, I would say 'it's your fault!' As usual, she was right!' Abedin shared a photo of Clinton with Harris, showing both dressed in floor-length navy gowns, along with the caption, 'Two trailblazers!' Abedin, who began her political career as a White House intern, was formerly married to ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.).
Mint
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Mint
Huma Abedin and Alex Soros tie the knot in star-studded New York wedding - Check who all attended
Huma Abedin, longtime aide to Hillary Clinton, and Alex Soros, the son of billionaire philanthropist George Soros, were married over the weekend in a high-profile wedding that brought together some of the biggest names in politics, media, and society. The couple exchanged vows at the Soros family's sprawling estate in the Hamptons, marking a union that blended personal joy with public interest. The ceremony was as grand as the guest list was powerful. Former US President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were in attendance, as were former Vice President Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff. Key congressional figures such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi also made appearances. The bride wore not one but two custom dresses for the occasion. For the Western-style ceremony, Abedin wore an ivory silk crepe Givenchy gown, designed by Sarah Burton, the creative force behind some of fashion's most iconic wedding looks. The dress featured delicate olive-branch embroidery and hand-sewn initials, drawing inspiration from classic Hollywood elegance, notably Audrey Hepburn. The celebration wasn't just political—it was also stylish. Vogue's Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour was among the high-profile guests, alongside Nicky Hilton Rothschild and talk show host Jimmy Fallon. The wedding divided the internet. Various people took to X and criticised the union. One person wrote, 'The satanic couple from hell, Alex Soros and Huma Abedin, have released photos from their lavish wedding—joined by none other than Bill and Hillary Clinton (sic).' Another person commented, 'Alex Soros has married Huma Abedin over the weekend! The dress is pretty, but there's not really much more to say when you're marrying into one of the most heinous families on the planet, but hey enjoy girl enjoy your weekly new custom Birkin! He's so unattractive, girl how? (sic).' Though deeply private about their relationship in the past, the couple's wedding has now placed them firmly in the public eye. In an evening that mixed glamour with gravitas, the Soros-Abedin wedding proved to be both a personal milestone and a social event of note.
Express Tribune
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Huma Abedin marries Alex Soros in Hamptons in dual-faith ceremony with two custom designer dresses
Huma Abedin and billionaire Alex Soros were married in the Hamptons, celebrating with both a private ceremony and a larger reception, according to Vogue. The couple, who began dating in late 2023 and announced their engagement in July 2024, hosted an event that honoured both Abedin's Muslim and Soros' Jewish heritage. Their ceremony included the signing of a Nikah and a Ketubah, followed by a cocktail hour, dinner and dancing with family and close friends. Hillary and Bill Clinton were present at the rehearsal dinner, with Hillary telling Vogue, 'I'm looking forward to being a witness to their marriage… to seeing so many longtime friends gathered in one place to really enjoy being part of Huma and Alex's start of their married life.' Abedin wore two custom-designed wedding dresses: an off-the-shoulder ivory silk satin-backed crepe gown by Givenchy and a vintage-inspired lace-sleeved dress by Erdem. The celebrations followed an earlier engagement where Alex proposed on a balcony overlooking the water, later sharing, 'We couldn't be happier, more grateful, or more in love.' Alex Soros is the chairman of the Open Society Foundations, and Huma Abedin is a former aide to Hillary Clinton and vice-chair of her 2016 campaign.
New Statesman
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- New Statesman
The savagery of Alexander McQueen
Alexander McQueen was many things to many people: a genius; a puerile provocateur; a young upstart who became Givenchy's head designer when he was just 27 years old; 'masochistic and insecure and unhappy and [with] very low self-esteem'; a man with a 'wicked sense of humour' who cared deeply for his family; a self-confessed 'big-mouthed east London yob'. Curiously for Adam Curtis, he was also an astute observer of the ways in which Britain had been corrupted by the turn of the 21st century. Shifty, Curtis's latest series for the BBC, is a hallucinatory study of Britain's backwaters over the last 40 years. In his signature style, seemingly disparate archival footage is woven together to narrate with devastating lucidity the story of how one of democracy's tenets – a shared sense of reality – was dismantled by Margaret Thatcher's free-market ideology and neoliberalism's emphasis on individualism. In Curtis's telling, democracy didn't so much collapse as dissolve into paranoia and political distrust – something that, he believes, was understood by McQueen. In one scene, Curtis unexpectedly invokes McQueen's iconic 2001 Spring/Summer show 'Voss', calling it a dramatisation of the 'modern illusion of freedom that [McQueen] had helped to create'. He means this not as condemnation. Rather, McQueen is cast as a kind of cultural diagnostician, a man who knew that beneath the sleek surface of late-Nineties Britain was something feral and broken. 'Voss' – known colloquially as the asylum show – featured a mirrored glass cube that, when lit from within, resembled a psychiatric ward. Before the show started, the audience sat, forced to look at themselves, for an hour. The models then emerged, stumbling around the box, their faces obscured by bandages. The audience could look in, but the models could not look out. 'It's interaction,' McQueen said, 'but also suffocation.' It's tempting, and perhaps not entirely wrong, to see McQueen as fashion's darkest fabulist. But fashion was, for him, a conduit for self-enquiry. 'My work is autobiographical,' he said in 2003. Born Lee Alexander McQueen in Lewisham in 1969, he always knew he wanted to be a designer. As a young boy he would dress his older sisters. After dropping out of school aged 16, he went to work as a tailor on Savile Row. From there he unsuccessfully applied for a lecturing job at Central Saint Martins, but was offered a place on the coveted MA course instead. He graduated in 1992, the same year his eponymous line was founded. By 2001 he was churning out up to ten collections a year for both Givenchy and his own label. It's no wonder the distinction between real and other became blurred. Violence was never hypothetical for McQueen. His sister, Janet, was beaten so horrifically by her first husband that she miscarried twice. McQueen, from the age of nine, was sexually assaulted by the same man. Savagery, then, wasn't metaphor, it was memory. And so his fashion became testimony – not to provoke, but to process. His clothes – metal armour, ripped shirts exposing breasts – were both a means of providing protection from the world and evidence one had already endured its cruelty. He knew that the world can be a harsh place for unprotected women. 'I want people to be afraid of the women I dress,' he said. Janet became his blueprint: vulnerable but strong. And from her, he built an army. But McQueen's vision was not nihilistic. His shows were not about crude violence producing low-grade shock value. It was curious; romantic, even. He drew his inspiration from nature – bestial, gorgeous, grotesque: '[It's] a fabric itself.' It was never mere background; it was language, and one that he could mimic. A keen ornithologist, the kestrels he spotted around the block of flats opposite his family home in east London were not just birds – they were emblematic of flight, vantage, predation, and grace. His models wore exquisite outfits made of razor clams, hats of taxidermied birds and corsets made from 97 aluminium coils. McQueen understood the cruelty of nature. In Shifty, Curtis uses a clip of McQueen building a dramatic blazer, made from calf hair. A striking silhouette, it has emphasised shoulders contrasted against a cinched-in waist made; it became a piece in his 1997 collection, 'It's a Jungle Out There'. Evoking the Thomson's gazelle, McQueen elucidated in his adenoidal voice: 'The gazelle is a poor little critter. But it's the food chain of Africa. As soon as it's born, it's dead. And that's how I see human life.' Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe While fragility made half the story, survival made the other. McQueen said about the same blazer, 'You could class this as costume. But it's costume with a deadly meaning.' That's not to say he didn't find a place for hope. In his 2009 show 'Plato's Atlantis', models walked in the now-legendary Armadillo shoe – towering, ten-inch heels. Their heads were adorned in braids, some a foot high, and their bodies bore garments that had used 3D printing to mimic marine features like scales and gills. They emerged onto the catwalk, some nearly eight feet tall, having transformed into something otherworldly. (It's easy to see how one of his favourite painters, Hieronymus Bosch, informed McQueen's fantastical sets.) Under McQueen's gaze, femininity wasn't merely performative. It was adaptive. Time and again he ensured his women were disquietingly chimeric: part-human, part-beast, mythic. They were not dressing up; they were becoming. Even 'Plato's Atlantis' – the designer's last collection, unveiled a few months before his death by suicide in February 2010 – often read as apocalyptic, ends in rebirth. The theatricality of McQueen's shows was steeped in cinema. He understood voyeurism's duality: the pleasure of watching, and the terror of being seen. As Richard Brett, a PR who dated McQueen, once said: 'He wanted partners he could control, but he was attracted to people who were resistant to that.' One of McQueen's favourite films was Paris, Texas, Wim Wenders' ode to estrangement and the erotic pull of memory; a film concerned with how the ghosts of our pasts haunt our present. In it, Nastassja Kinski's character, Jane, is viewed across the partition of a one-way mirror, by a man who watches silently, and who does not speak until it's safe. For McQueen, this was not just fiction, it was life itself. The woman in the box. The watcher and the watched. The parallels to Voss are difficult to deny. In this way, the brutality on display in McQueen's work was not celebratory – it was diagnostic. It exposed how deeply violence is threaded into the performance of femininity. And through fashion, he rewrote the narrative. His women were not killed, they returned. They were not the romanticised victims seen in Alfred Hitchcock films (another influence on McQueen), but something stranger: survivors, ghosts, predators. In a world where fashion sells fantasy, McQueen sold a disturbing reality. His work was not cold – it was infused with romantic idealism. Granted, this was something of a complicated and messy concept to McQueen. Speaking about relationships, he said, 'You do things like put up your defences just to test how much that other person loves you.' For all the strength and power stitched into his brocade, he left space for vulnerability. He made a cuirass – a breast and back plate fused together, like a medieval knight's armour, or bulletproof vest – out of glass. His bumster trousers, with their waistband 5cm below those of the Seventies low-rise, were provocative, but they left one of the most vulnerable and erotic parts of his models' bodies – the bottom of the spine – exposed. His clothes were beautiful, but they were also fragile, and ultimately self-defeating: they left a sliver of a crack for light to break through. McQueen was, by all accounts, generous, funny, childlike. He loved his dogs. He adored his mum, Joyce. His suicide, which came just nine days after her death, was not just the loss of a great designer – it was the collapse of a unique world-view. It's easy to romanticise such an ending, to fold it neatly into the narrative of a tortured genius. But McQueen wasn't interested in being tragic. He wanted truth, even when it hurt. In the world of fashion, life can be constructed around fantasy, but he made the audience look at – and reckon with – pain. Adam Curtis frames McQueen as a man who understood the sickness in Britain's soul. He certainly understood how beauty could become confinement; how spectacle could be an effective camouflage for pain. By the 2000s, market ideology had reordered the British economy, and New Labour's spin culture had decoupled politics from reality. The grainy archive film coalesces to form one picture: behind the allure of financial freedom came inequality; beneath superficial beauty lies something murkier. Or, as McQueen put it, 'There's blood beneath every layer of skin.' But the designer also knew that transformation was possible. 'It wasn't really about fashion with Lee,' said Sarah Burton, who, having joined the Alexander McQueen label as an intern in 1996, succeeded him as head designer. 'It was so much more than that. It was about everything that was to do with being alive. All the difficult parts, and the beautiful.' Because while Alexander McQueen's signature was theatricality, his subject was truth: feral, biographical, unhealed. [See also: How Britain fell into the K-hole] Related
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kaia Gerber & Halina Reijn Team Up for Sarah Burton's Debut Givenchy Campaign
You're no doubt fully aware that Sarah Burton is now installed as creative director of Givenchy. The revered British designer presented her highly anticipated debut collection for the storied French fashion house during Paris Fashion Week back in March – ultimately receiving mixed feedback from members of our forums. Fast forward four months, and Burton's first campaign is here for the upcoming Fall 2025 season. The recipient of The British Fashion Council's 2011 Designer of the Year Award enlists Kaia Gerber as the face of the Fall 2025 Givenchy campaign. The all-American Cindy Crawford mini-me teams up with Dutch film director Halina Reijn for the occasion (perhaps best known for Babygirl). 'The idea behind my first campaign for Givenchy was to focus on the friendship between a film director and an actor. I wanted it to celebrate the female gaze,' said Burton. 'We were waiting for this?' asked ellarchivist. 'We all knew Burton was a bad hire for Givenchy. But now we all really really know she's a bad hire at Givenchy,' declared 90sfan. 'You don't do things like this when trying to revive a stale brand. Sarah seems to be a nice woman, but she is a really weak creative director. Just choose interesting looks and book a good photographer. No need to be so pretentious,' Avonlea stated. Tourbillions commented: 'This would have worked much better if they got Cynthia Erivo instead. She would have given it much more life, and Erivo has been wearing a lot of Givenchy already.' 'What a disaster,' voiced FashionPower while Drusilla used the word 'weak' to describe the campaign. See more of Kaia Gerber from the Givenchy Pre-Fall 2025 campaign and join the conversation, here. The post Kaia Gerber & Halina Reijn Team Up for Sarah Burton's Debut Givenchy Campaign appeared first on theFashionSpot.
