My old pal and WOWlebrity Michael Schmidt, as I’ve written about before on The Wow Report, has created designs for just about every superstar of the last 35 years. Wardrobe, touring outfits, accessories for the likes of Madonna, Janet Jackson, Beyoncé, chainmail for iconic Cher videos, as well as the murderous glove Lady Gaga wore on American Horror Story; Hotel and more.

Yesterday, I posted a story comparing the real Joan Crawford at the 35th Academy Awards with the Jessica Lange version yesterday and a friend asked me if they used the real necklace in Feud: Bette and Joan that Crawford wore to the Oscars and I said I doubted it as they weren’t the same. Michael Schmidt chimed in and claimed it,

“I did it!”

Michael said,

“Here’s a comparison shot of the Van Cleef & Arpels necklace Joan Crawford wore at the 1963 Oscars and the version we did for Jessica Lange. Given the limited time and the scarcity of clear images of the original we had to work with, I suppose we got somewhat close.
I’m sure the original was borrowed for the Oscars and returned to Van Cleef & Arpels and then likely purchased by someone, but who knows? VC&A might even have it in their archives, but producers don’t like to borrow the real thing and have it on their sets for security purposes.
It’s not a perfect reproduction, but sometimes compromises are a part of the process. That’s frustrating, when you’re a perfectionist.“

I would ague, it’s almost better that it’s “similar”, in that Lange isn’t imitating Crawford as much as reinterpreting her, and that’s what Michael Schmidt has done.

Brava! Bravo! You can follow Michael here on his InstaGlam.