Emily Puckering
Hunter Schafer has been praised for her 'controversial' - yet nothing short of iconic - 'top' dress that she debuted at the Oscars afterparty last week.
The Euphoria actor well and truly turned heads when she rocked up to the 2023 Vanity Fair Oscars Party wearing the incredibly unique fit, which consisted of a long white silk skirt, a single ivory-coloured feather acting as a bandeau and... well, that was literally it.
Along with the 'top' dress, which came from the Ann Demeulemeester A/W 2023 debut collection by French designer Ludovic de Saint Sernin, Schafer rocked super minimal make-up and hair and looked, of course, absolutely incredible.
As for the idea behind the look, de Saint Sernin was inspired by 'fashion-making as an authentic act of self-involvement', CNN Style reports.
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It was a love letter to the Belgian label's founder - and the imagery of 'authorship and autobiography' was baked into the clothes, with de Saint Sernin calling his feather bandeaus 'quills' in the show notes.
And as a transgender woman, it's clear that Schafer brought a whole new meaning to de Saint Sernin's ideas of self-expression, self-love and self-definition.
CNN Style went on to outline how there is a long lineage of gender-defying sentiments stitched into Schafer's outfit, with the Ann Demeulemeester brand boasting a long legacy of gender-non-conforming fashion.
"I was interested in the tension between masculine and feminine, but also the tension between masculine and feminine within one person," Demeulemeester told Vogue ahead of a retrospective exhibition of her work in Florence, Italy, last year.
"That is what makes every person really interesting to me because everybody is unique."
But as is the case with art and fashion, not everyone could get their heads around the design.
"Westerns normalising outfits like this only makes me grateful that I have no/will never affiliation with them," one said, while another pointed out: "I get that her body is meant to be an accessory but seriously, a silver necklace would have been nice. It looks bland without jewellery."
However, Schafer has also been met with an outpour of praise for the brave look after she reposted some stunning snaps on Instagram.
"God is a woman," one fan simply wrote, while another added: "Tell me you’re a Greek goddess without telling me a word."
A third said: "She’s insane actually like imagine looking this f**king good."
And a fourth added: "Hunter Schafer is so bold for this and pulling it off... absolute icon."