Well, now we know one actress who won't be wearing Chanel at the Oscars.
According to WWD, celebrated actress Meryl Streep was planning on wearing a grey silk Chanel gown from the recent Haute Couture collection to the 2017 Oscars on Sunday.
However, after asking for — and being granted — a custom adjustment to the dress' neckline, the "Florence Foster Jenkins" star declined to wear it after finding another designer who would pay her to wear their design on the red carpet.
And Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld isn't pleased.
"I made a sketch, and we started to make the dress,” the 83-year-old designer told WWD, who recounted that after work began on the adjustments, someone from Team Streep called the atelier to cancel the order. "'Don’t continue the dress. We found somebody who will pay us,'" Lagerfeld said, quoting the messenger.
Meryl Streep accepts the Oscar for Best Actress for her role in "The Iron Lady" at the 84th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California, February 26, 2012.
However, when reached for comment, a representative for Streep refuted Lagerfeld's claims, telling The Hollywood Reporter that it is against the actress' personal ethics to be paid to wear a dress on the red carpet.
Lagerfeld claimed he was so upset "The Devil Wears Prada" actress reportedly changed her mind, that he called her cheap.
"A genius actress, but cheapness also, no?” he said to WWD.
Lagerfeld also claimed that Chanel does not pay celebrities to wear its designs.
"After we gift her a dress that’s 100,000 euros [US$105,000], we found later we had to pay [for her to wear it]. We give them dresses, we make the dresses, but we don’t pay,” Lagerfeld said.
While this can be true for some brands — who lend their clothes out to celebs — there are also plenty of other designers who pay actors and actresses to wear their clothes.
According to celebrity stylist Jessica Paster, brands paying celebs to wear their products is "prevalent across the board."
"Jewelry people are paying, shoe people are paying, tampon companies are paying, everyone is paying!" Paster said at the 2015 Vulture Festival in New York City.
A dress from the Chanel Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2017 collection. Could this be the dress Meryl might have worn?
When it comes to dressing a celebrity, Paster said the financial breakdown can look something like this: "It could be just paying the stylist and we get anywhere between $30,000 to $50,000. Or it's paying the actress something between $100,000 and $250,000."
Stylist Brad Goreski also revealed that luxury brands do pay celebrities to wear their wares on the red carpet.
"If someone shows up to the Oscars in a black dress and huge statement necklace, chances are they're being paid by a jewelry company," he said at the Vulture Festival.
Meanwhile, some celebrities such as Hayden Panettiere and Edie Falco have admitted to buying their own gowns to wear to the Golden Globes.
Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld.
And, as Lagerfeld noted, even Chanel spends money when celebrities request to wear the clothes, which includes time logged by the workers who make the clothes, money spent on couriers and flights and any other custom adjustments that are requested.
Although Streep won't be wearing Chanel Couture come Sunday, Lagerfeld said the dress is still hers if she wants it, as it's custom-fitted to her size.
"She could keep the dress because of the size,” Lagerfeld said. “It’s couture. It’s perfect for her.”
Somehow we feel that Streep won't be wearing Chanel anytime soon.
Also on HuffPost
