Anna Wintour Defends Scarlett Johansson Wearing Marchesa at Met Gala: ‘It Was a Great Gesture’

The 2018 Met Gala—often referred to as “fashion’s biggest night out”—went down on Monday night.

A fundraising event put on by the Costume Institute Gala at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, it’s presided over by the inimitable Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine, and sees the biggest and brightest stars of stage and screen strut their stuff in a plethora of outrageously opulent outfits.

This year’s theme was “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination,” and was put on with the approval of the Vatican as well as Cardinal Timothy Dolan, a guest of honor at the soiree.

While Rihanna, Chadwick Boseman and Lena Waithe received near-universal acclaim for their choice of evening wear, Scarlett Johansson’s reception was more mixed.

You see, Johansson chose to wear a burgundy gown by Marchesa—a fashion house co-founded by Georgina Chapman, the estranged ex-wife of accused serial sexual abuser Harvey Weinstein. Marchesa grew to become a premier brand thanks in large part to Weinstein, who is said to have pressured the A-list actresses starring in his films into wearing its dresses on red carpets.

One publicist told The Hollywood Reporter that Weinstein threatened to pull the financing for actress Felicity Huffman’s 2005 passion project Transamerica if she didn’t wear Marchesa. (Huffman acquiesced, and eventually earned an Oscar nomination for her performance in the film.) Another publicist told THR that Weinstein warned Sienna Miller, who was starring in the Weinstein film Factory Girl, he’d be “very upset” if she didn’t wear Marchesa to the 2007 Golden Globe Awards.

So, when Wintour appeared on The Late Show Wednesday night, host Stephen Colbert asked her about Johansson’s controversial decision, with the actress seemingly breaking an industry-wide boycott of Marchesa.

“She wore it, she said, as a statement that Harvey Weinstein’s wife, who is partners in this company, shouldn’t be punished for the sins of her husband,” offered Colbert.

“And I totally agree with that,” Wintour replied. “I mean, Georgina is a brilliant designer and I don’t think she should be blamed for her husband’s behavior. I think it was a great gesture of support on Scarlett’s part to wear a dress like that—a beautiful dress like that—on such a public occasion.”

Well, there you have it.