Sam Smith’s bold Brit Awards get-up had heads turning at the weekend after they rocked up to the red carpet wearing an inflated latex jumpsuit.
Smith, who identifies as non-binary, donned a black latex outfit with matching gloves and platform heels, proudly showing off their exaggerated silhouette on the red carpet while a certain Piers Morgan was left sat fuming about it at home.
"Methinks ‘they’ is getting a teeny weeny bit over-thirsty for attention,” Morgan wrote on Twitter.
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The outfit was by Harri, an Indian-born, London-based, designer whose full name is Harikrishnan Keezhathil Surendran Pillai.
Harri first rose to prominence when he unveiled his London College of Fashion graduating collection just weeks before lockdown in 2020, with the spectacular inflatable latex trousers seeing him shortlisted for the British Fashion Council’s NEWGEN initiative.
And if you’re keen to walk around with a load of excess air in your kecks – and not just because you’ve been overdoing it on the baked beans again – the good news is that they’re available to buy online.
That’s if you have £4,000, that is, which is how much the made-to-order garment will set you back... Admittedly a little pricier than those jeans you’ve got on right now, I know.
The ‘Double-Handed Vase Trousers’ are fully handmade in 100 percent latex, and even come with a talcum powder warning on the APOC website.
“Keep away from heat and daylight, metals, and avoid contact with all oils,” it advises.
“Always use talcum powder inside before use.
“Use a latex polish regularly and only cold hand wash.”
More importantly, it adds: “Please do not overinflate.”
APOC lists Harri as a designer who ‘strives to create a trinity between Craft, Materiality and Fashion’, saying: “Reflecting contrasts and larger-than -life proportions, whilst shifting between textiles made of wood to latex performance sculptures, Harri reconfigures these to create simple wearables to intricate couture.”
There are a number of other blown-up pieces in the collection, including ‘Black Alien Legs Trousers’, which aren’t quite as extreme as Smith’s choice but still pretty fetching at £2,800.
But if the inflatable element isn’t for you, he also has a number of other distinctive latex items in his collection, including a £200 black latex vest and a similar cape that costs £450.
While Morgan – and others – were unconvinced by Smith’s bold outfit choice, many fans were quick to leap to the singer's defence.
One wrote: "Flamboyance and music is not new. Piers is acting like a 'get off my lawn' type presuming that Sam Smith is the first to do this. See 'exhibit Elton' (plus countless others)."
Another commented: "Obsessed with Piers Morgan biting as if Sam Smith is wearing this to fly under the radar."
While a third said: "I don’t even care for Sam Smith but the Piers Morgan & co lot get SOOOOOO wound up by them I cant help but STAN. It’s like Gemma Collins, like ur mad… for what? For them just… existing???"
And a fourth added: "Yes, they're a popstar. That's what it's about."
Topics: Fashion, Brit Awards, Celebrity
Jess Hardiman