The Weekly Spill #17

Streisand & Sevigny: the Swans of Spamalot

Happy Friday, and a very happy NYFW to all who celebrate! I can’t wait to see what craziness the week brings. Got the fingers crossed for more fashion and less discourse. I would like to send a quick shoutout to Phil for doing us a solid last week and predicting an early Spring. I am really over Winter, so loved getting that news from the seasonal psychic groundhog. He really slayed this year. I know everyone is so busy being fashionable, so I’ll just get into the beans of the week:

• The Traitors: I feel like everyone has been talking about season 2 of Traitors, so I decided I should see what all of the hullabaloo was about. I am now obsessed. While many people tuned in to see the reality TV favorites competing on the show, I tuned in for Alan Cumming. If you were in the cast of the 1999 remake of Annie, you basically have my support until the end of time. He is the perfect host, give him that Emmy! The show is so good, I don’t want to spoil anything, so you just go watch it and we can discuss later.

  

• My Name is Barbra: for the last two weeks, I have been consumed by this book. I am listening to the audiobook (which I highly recommend), and I don’t even remember what my personal inner monologue sounds like. It has been replaced by the voice of one, Barbra Streisand, and that’s fine with me. I am currently at page 720 (35 hrs, 55 mins). She’s got a lot to say, and I am here to listen.

• The Grammys: I was pleasantly surprised by the Grammy’s telecast this year. I feel like everyone has already given their take on it, so I want to be brief. Here are my thoughts:

  • I feel like not enough people are talking about Dua Lipa’s performance which was really great. I think she just got a little overshadowed, and since she went first, people forgot about it.

  • The Tracy Chapman resurgence that has happened this week as a result of the Fast Car performance has been really cool to see.

  • Miley Cyrus is a rock star and icon, her performance stole the night for me. If you need proof: she keeps wearing Bob Mackie. Icons wear Bob Mackie.

  • Billie Eilish was dressed as Poodle Parade Barbie from 1965 during her performance and more people should be talking about it.

  • The Tina Turner tribute was amazing.

  • Do we think Beyoncé is about to have a country era?

  • I really wanted A&W to win best song.

  • Taylor pulling Lana on stage was awkward to watch, and I’m not going to change my mind on that. I know she was technically on the album. It still felt weird. The vibes were off. Argue with the wall.

• Everything Every-Cher All At Once: I have not been watching the current season of Drag Race because I missed the first couple of episodes, and have yet to dedicate the time to sit down and catch myself up. However, obviously I saw that they finally did a Cher-themed runway category. I do consider myself an expert on this subject, so without any context for the queens nor the episode, here are my runway rankings and thoughts:

This not only looks nothing like the reference, but it’s also incredibly ugly…and girl where are your bangs?! The key to 60’s Cher is the heavy bang and the Cleopatra eye makeup.

Apparently she claimed that there are no colored pictures of this fur coat, so she could just make it her own and choose the colors. I found a colored picture of what I am pretty sure is the same coat, and I am offering an alternative 60s Cher look that she should have done. You’re welcome.

Tied for last, because at least Dawn chose a good look to try and recreate. You can choose any Cher look and you pick a black dress and leather jacket?? And then it doesn’t even look like the reference!

I don’t like the changes that she made to the look, like why did we give it long sleeves?

I really like this Cher look, but this kind of missed the mark for me. The top part is odd, the feathers are the wrong color and look kind of sad. The real nail in the coffin is the hairstyle, Cher never did that 60s beehive thing.

I don’t hate the choice to recreate this Met Gala look, but it is a hard one to do. The details of the bodice are so important and I don’t think it fully translated

I like the look, but there were some fit issues with the top. I wish the boa was feathers rather than tulle. Side note: could I pull this off for Halloween? Or is the purple jumpsuit + bangs going to lean more Selena? Let me know!

There’s nothing wrong with this look, it just doesn’t scream Cher to me. Like if the picture of Cher wasn’t next to it, I would assume it was just an Egyptian costume. The wings are doing a lot of the heavy lifting with this look. It’s a good recreation, but not my favorite look.

I LOVE this dress that Cher wore to accept her 1988 Oscar. I’ve got give Morphine Love Dion props for getting the hair right. This is not typical Cher hair, it’s sort of Greek goddess hair and she nailed it. I wish she was holding an Oscar.

At this point, all of these looks are incredibly hard to rank. This is a beautiful look, one that could have easily gone wrong, but she executed it brilliantly.

A well-done recreation of one of her most iconic looks! the infamous ass tattoos would’ve been a fun addition, but really no notes here.

This is a perfect copy of this black-and-white Mackie gown, and the only queen to pull out a big headpiece!!

The naked dress that Cher wore to the Met Gala is one of her most iconic looks, but also possibly the hardest to recreate. So to pick this one is a big swing, and she pulled it off. If I want to be nit-picky, Cher’s hair doesn’t have layers in the front like that, but I’ll let it go.

Sapphira is the winner for me because you could tell me that she is wearing the actual costume that Cher wore and I would believe you. The quality, the details, everything is perfect. 10/10, no notes.

I am sort of surprised no one did the look with the giant feather headdress from the 1986 Academy Awards, but maybe one of the queens who had already been eliminated brought it. Overall, the looks were very good, and I feel like they did much better than some of the past “night of 1,000” themed categories. Also, obsessed with the video someone made Cher reacting to the runway.

I did see comments trying to claim that “Cher is too irrelevant for young queens, and Ru needs to stop requiring them to know about her.” And I hope that those people get well soon, as they are obviously not okay. Bad taste is a plague on the nation, I hope we find a cure soon.

• Poor Things: I finally saw Poor Things, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. The film is strange, but really visually beautiful. The production design, costumes, and cinematography alone would be enough to keep me entertained, and then you have the fantastical, weird, Frankenstein story that unravels in ways you don’t expect. Emma Stone is giving the best performance of her career in this, it is incredibly impressive. It is a two-woman race for lead actress between her and Lily Gladstone. I’m still rooting for Gladstone, but won’t be mad if it goes home with Emma.

• Spamalot: I won lottery tickets to Spamalot and went to see the show last Saturday. Go ahead and give Leslie Kritzer the supporting actress Tony nomination, because she stops the show in this. It’s going to be a packed year for musical revivals on Broadway, but this is probably going to be the only one that references Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand, and George Santos all within the same song.

  

  yes, a they also referenced Cher!

• New music from Kacey Musgraves: This was my exciting mid-grammys album announcement! I love Kacey Musgraves, and I am so excited to get new music from her so soon. I’ve had the first single, Deeper Well, on repeat since it came out yesterday.

• Truman Capote vs. The Swans: As longtime readers know, I have been anxiously awaiting the release of season 2 of Feud which follows Truman Capote and his swans. I read the book that the show is based off of, and featured it in a past weekly spill. I had high expectations, and so far they are being met. Watching makes me want to drink a martini, chain-smoke, and gossip while wearing a fabulous outfit and diamonds.

• Chloë Sevigny’s Feud press tour: she’s correct and she should say it!

  

  

  @ellemagazineThe City of Stars in NOT for #ChloëSevigny 🙅‍♀️ #AskMeAnything #LosAngeles

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Thank you for reading this week’s edition of Spilling the Beans. If you run out of small talk this fashion week, feel free to use this newsletter for talking points. Actually, skip the small talk all together!