Anna Wintour breaks her ‘never wear black’ rule in vintage Chanel at state dinner

Celebrities and politicians descended upon the White House last night in their gladrags to feast with guest of honour, French President Emmanuel Macron, who is present for his first state visit since the Trump administration.

Guests were treated to a menu of butter poached lobster with caviar and calotte of beefs complemented by shallot marmalade, with crème fraiche ice cream for dessert.

The guest list was starry, with Stephen Colbert, Jennifer Garner, Christian Louboutin, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus in attendance as well as a host of US politicians and White House staffers.

Among all the stars and Hollywood power players, was Anna Wintour casually breaking one of her cardinal fashion rules. Now, Wintour has many rules — they’re often things she has uttered in interviews and videos which are then taken as gospel, but she does tend to stick to them, so it’s not like they’re being paid undue attention.

For example, she advises against clashing patterns, and she stands by that in her outfits. She also hates neon, which was revealed in a Snapchat video where she spoke ahead the US Open, saying: “Don't forget to wear your sunglasses — especially if the male players insist on wearing those ugly fluorescent colours.”

But one of her most simple, salient rules? Never wear all-black. In a video for Vogue’s Go Ask Anna series, when asked how to jazz up an all black outfit, she replied: “Don't wear all black. It seems too gloomy as if one's going to a funeral.”

How surprised were we, then, when she turned up to the state dinner last night arm in arm with director Baz Luhrmann and clad in black from head-to-toe.

The Vogue editor wore a vintage Chanel dress from 1983, perhaps in honour of the dinner’s prominent French guest, complete with built in jewellery in the form of belts, necklaces and bracelets.

To be fair to Anna, the jewellery is gold, which may work as an exception to the rule, but we have a feeling she just decided to break the rules for one night and one night only.

She wasn’t the only one to opt for all black either, which must have been relieving for the others who feared her anti-all-black wrath. Jennifer Garner arrived wearing a Ralph Lauren velvet black gown and black heels too, alongside her daughter Violet Affleck who was also dressed in black — but mixed it up with a pop of red for her heels.

One celebrity who refused to stay muted was Chrissy Teigen, who wore a blush pink puff sleeved gown with silver embellishments. Julia Louis-Dreyfus also went dark, but veered away from black and instead wore a deep emerald green velvet gown with gold jewellery.