If I hadn’t received last-minute doctor’s orders to stay home tonight due to being too pregnant, I would be at the Met Gala air-kissing with movie stars and designers, all the while trying to maintain my cool when I would have been introduced to cochair and fashion mogul Silas Chou on the receiving line. Instead, I am shacked up on the 26th floor of The Carlyle hotel about to get into my gown and ask my husband, Mr. Grey, to order in dim sum in an effort to channel the Chinese-themed gala I started preparing for in December, when the invitation came via formal letter from the office of Anna Wintour.
In town for the occasion from Los Angeles, where I live year-round while overseeing my one-year-old beauty commerce and content company, Violet Grey, I arrived with one carefully packed suitcase full of my pre-party essentials. But in fact, proper gala strategizing began months ago, when I first enlisted the services of a professional—or in this case, multiple professionals.
Cinderella had a fairy godmother; I have a team of beauty and fashion confidants that I depend on to work their magic. I begged the ever-busy L.A.-based stylist Lawren Howell (and her trusted tailor) to take on the challenge of styling me and my baby bump. My only request was that she do her best to make me look like Blake Lively when Blake was pregnant (it was as if Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack” was her maternity-style theme song). Lawren found many Chinese-inspired dresses and jewels before we settled on Lorraine Schwartz jade and diamond bracelets and a vintage dress from Decades in Los Angeles. The dress was perfect—and much to my delight, the forties gold leather floral print wasn’t too dissimilar to that of the print chosen for the Met Gala invitation. The azalea and plum blossoms dotting it served as inspiration for my nail art by Nailing Hollywood’s Stephanie Stone. I chose a black beaded Judith Leiber clutch with a tassel hanging from the bottom and Paul Andrew rusted red heels for a hint of color—all of which I will be wearing tonight on the couch with Mr. Grey, who I will be forcing to wear the dragon cuff links Lawren found for him on 1stdibs.
As for the rest of the preparation, perhaps someone else will benefit if I share all my red-carpet beauty secrets, of which I have many, given that filing beauty secrets happens to be what I have chosen as my life’s work. Prior to sitting for makeup with Violet Grey resident artist, Kira Nasrat, red-carpet skin started with several months of preparatory facials. I alternated between queen bee L.A.-based Cristina Radu and my new squeeze, Shani Darden, and then last but not least, New York City’s Aida Bicaj just days before the event, which I book months in advance. For hair, I recently discovered the absolute best product on the market to revive and restore luxury back into my hair! Every girl needs this in her cosmetic wardrobe immediately, gala or no gala. It’s a pre-shampoo hair oil treatment made by Leonor Greyl, it’s unanimously deemed the best by the industry and therefore approved by the Violet Code.
For a natural sun-kissed tan, the best girl in the Tri-state area is Anna Stankiewicz. I found her through the impossibly beautiful Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, where I find all my body polish experts. Met Gala weekend is Ms. Stankiewicz’s busiest weekend of the year, so I booked her in February for a May 3 date. The buck doesn’t stop there! I saw Kristie Streicher for her perfect feathered brow treatment, religiously, every six weeks; identical twins Daniel and Jimmy for natural Longmi eyelash extensions that do not wreck your own lashes; Cindi Leos, my pregnancy Pilates guru twice a week for toned arms and legs, and the aforementioned Stephanie Stone for nails. I also spent a significant amount of time on the Internet brushing up on my Chinese fashion and art history in order to impress my Met Gala dinner companions.
I do hope Mr. Grey will enjoy learning about everything I now know about Xianrendong cave pottery and the blouse-skirt combinations of the Zhou Dynasty, as this is what I plan on chatting about while at home all dressed up for the gala—and, doctor’s orders non-withstanding, feeling very glamorous at that.
Makeup by Kira Nasrat (@kiranasrat); Nails by Stephanie Stone from Nailing Hollywood
The post Why Cassandra Huysentruyt Grey Is Skipping the Met Gala in Favor of a Glamorous Night In appeared first on Vogue.
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