We’re here to discuss her closet, but Christine Chiu seems more interested in mine. With what seems to be genuine enthusiasm, the Bling Empire breakout star and businesswoman asks me for a virtual look book of my outfits for Coachella—the music and arts festival that takes over the desert in Indio, California, every April. As it turns out, Chiu is pro-Chella, but what she is against is the increasingly casual sartorial approach of its A-list attendees.
“I think Karl would be disappointed,” Chiu says, referencing the former creative director of Chanel and Fendi, Karl Lagerfeld.
When we connect via Zoom, both Chiu and I are aligned in our choice of sequins: she in a structured overcoat (Chanel), me in a backless butterfly top (Amazon). The contrast is stark, but navigating contradictions is nothing new for Chiu. Without previous experience in the entertainment industry, she produced and starred in Netflix’s Bling Empire, the first reality show to feature an exclusively Asian core cast. She is the co-owner and cofounder of two aesthetic surgical clinics, Beverly Hills Plastic Surgery and the Regenerative and Anti-aging Institute of Beverly Hills. Her Dancing With the Stars bio (she appeared on season 30 in 2021) acknowledges her as one of the world’s youngest haute couture collectors, a notable feat considering its clientele usually find their foothold in middle age. Chiu, alternatively, was in her early 20s when she began her collection.
Now, Chiu is not only a haute couture mainstay, but a powerful force in the fashion community. In June, she’ll host the West Coast Friends of the Costume Institute dinner, and she’s served on the boards of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Costume Council and the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Contemporaries. She frequently receives exclusive invites from luxury fashion houses—even visiting landmarks like Louis Vuitton’s home in Asnières-sur-Seine and Coco Chanel’s Parisian apartment. Her relationship with Chanel is particularly special, as she commissions multiple made-to-order pieces that take between six to nine months to create. Eagerly, she follows the atelier’s progress via the brand’s app for couture clients. Sometimes, the seamstress, having worked with her for over 10 years, will surprise her, using metallic thread or attaching crystals. Over Zoom, Chiu unveils one of her more affordable garments, a “less labor-intensive” crepe-like skirt in an eggshell cream. She approximates couture’s starting price at 150,000 euros, which is around $166,000.
Monday will mark her Met Gala debut, where Chiu’s love of Lagerfeld-led fashion houses will be on full display. She will donate up to 10 couture pieces from her archive to the Costume Institute and will be rewearing one of her most treasured Chanel couture gowns for the occasion, complete with a 65-pound cape. It’s the first time the gown will leave her temperature-controlled closet since she wore it to meet then Prince Charles, and she selected it tonight to honor Lagerfeld. It’s no Amazon sequin butterfly top, but it will do.
In the days leading up to the Met Gala, Vanity Fair spoke with Chiu about her relationship with fashion, her extensive haute couture collection, and what it’s like to see her late friend Lagerfeld honored in such a way.
The below interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Vanity Fair: We know now that every fashionista has an origin story, what’s yours?
I grew up very much starved from fashion. My father was a big collector of Issey Miyake, my mother collected Chanel. But being an only child, they wanted me to be very studious so they kept me at schools that only had uniforms. So I lived in a very black and white world, while I tried to play in the shades of gray. I was almost suspended for taking my uniforms to a local tailor and having them reconfigure my skirts or my pants. It was really in college, in Malibu, where I really got to play. I approached fashion as a way to understand culture, and community. I feel like through fashion – as with any other traditional forms of art – it keeps the conversation going and going.
It’s cultural commentary.
Exactly. It’s influenced by the politics and pop culture of the time. We’re in a woke era now, right? So many things that they were able to get away with back then, we can’t now — with fur being at the top of the list, which was so much a part of Karl at Fendi. I think fashion is my encyclopedia, my entry into the world.