Living > Parties
An Ab Fab Christmas Do at Stella McCartney
by Luke Leitch
Photo: David M. Benett / Dave Benett / Getty Images for Stella McCartney
Edina Monsoon (for it was she) seized the microphone, forgot to speak into it for a while, then recovered enough of what just about counts as poise to muse: "Hurrah! It's just such a pleasure that Stella has allowed me anywhere near the shop. Because it's so rare." Then, turning to her fellow functioning dysfunctional Patsy Stone—who shakily growled, "Cheers darling, thanks a lot"—Monsoon hit the big red button that turned on the jolly, twinkling lights. The onlookers "ooh"ed in delight—until Monsoon promptly blew any childish wonder from the moment by slinging insults at the owner of a darkened shopfront nearby: "Eat your heart out, Matthew Williamson!" She turned back to the crowd—whose number included Salma Hayek, Luke Evans, Lily Cole, Dasha Zhukova, Ronnie Wood, Bryan Adams, and Lara Mullen—and delivered her adieu: "Enjoy the pavement."
Afterward, inside the store, McCartney confessed that she did not usually approve of Monsoon wearing her clothes—"she cheapens them"—then added: "Really, she's been detrimental to my career. But she's hounded me for so many years. Begged me to come to the Christmas lights . . . but this is a one-off. It will never happen again."
For those unacquainted with the BBC's vintage TV comedy Absolutely Fabulous, it was delivering priceless fashion industry parody years before Zoolander. Starring Jennifer Saunders as Edina and Joanna Lumley as Patsy, Ab Fab has a soon-to-be-released movie reboot that will feature Kate Moss emerging soaked from the river Thames wearing a green sequined ballgown as she smokes a cigarette before falling into the arms of Jean Paul Gaultier.
McCartney is gearing up to present her next collection, Pre-Fall, at a presentation in Los Angeles in January, following a long run of hosting the event in New York. Before that, though, there is Christmas to consider. Asked to name her best gift of all time, she said: "One of my children, Bailey, was born on December 8. So she was my early best-ever Christmas present." For once this evening, McCartney wasn't joking.
In This Story:Stella McCartney, Christmas, Salma Hayek