Why spoons are Cate Blanchett’s new style obsession
“Cate Blanchett just wore 102 old spoons on the red carpet.” There’s a fashion commentary you never thought you’d read.
And yet so said the headlines when the Australian actress, 55, stepped out in a cutlery-embellished top last month. It was a look that went viral, and was deemed so “successful” in this social media age, that the Oscar winner saw fit to repeat the feat on 9 September at the Toronto International Film Festival.
One media outlet saw fit to clarify – spoons; “the utensil people use for soup and ice cream”. On social media, users pondered whether Uri Geller might now be feeling inspired to create his own version of the halterneck at home?
Both the top and the jacket are the work of the Swedish designer Ellen Hodakova Larsson. Based in Stockholm, Larsson turns trash into treasure; she upcycles unconventional materials from belt buckles to meat platters into her new, bespoke Hodakova fashion collections. All of the vintage spoons (it sounds nicer to say vintage, rather than used, right?) that she has sourced for Blanchett have been found on the outskirts of Stockholm, and brought back to the Hodakova atelier for bending. Larsson is a finalist for this year’s prestigious LVMH prize – an award of 300,000 euros for an up-and-coming talent.
For Blanchett, there is cachet to be found in “discovering” a new designer brand before other celebrities have worn it on the red carpet. But she will especially have taken interest in one that chimes with her personal messaging around wardrobe sustainability. For several years now Blanchett has been re-wearing and re-working her old premiere dresses into new looks, rather than always sourcing new outfits for public appearances, as most actors do. From an 2016 Alexander McQueen gown, turned into a top and trousers in 2020, to an Armani Privé dress that she re-designed earlier this year, she has form in this department.
When she does commission a new look, it typically will be made from a sustainable fabric choice and, as in this case, may seek to spark a conversation around eco-fashion and clothing choices.
“Ellen Hodakova Larsson is dedicated to building a fully sustainable fashion house and changing the conversation of what sustainable fashion means today,” Blanchett’s long-time stylist, Elizabeth Stewart, said of the choice. “Ellen uses heirlooms like these vintage spoons sourced in the Swedish countryside to create unexpected proportions and new associations. Grandma would be proud.”
Stewart also posted a video on Instagram to demonstrate the cacophony that comes with wearing such a piece. As Blanchett dances in her suit, the utensils clang around her waistline. “Who’s hungry? The spoons are back,” Stewart wrote.
A new way, certainly, to ensure you are unmissable on the red carpet.
