Catwalk Carnage! Inside the Premiere of Ryan Murphy’s The Beauty at MoMA
Leave it to showrunner Ryan Murphy’s latest project to bring together a cast of who’s who on a school night—in January, no less. On Wednesday evening, FX’s The Beauty premiered at Manhattan’s Museum of Modern Art. And if MoMA is typically the backdrop for streamlined minimalism, this time around, it played host to maximalist glamour, with cast members Bella Hadid, Rebecca Hall, Evan Peters, Ashton Kutcher, Anthony Ramos, Isabella Rossellini, Jeremy Pope, and Amelia Gray Hamlin ready for their closeup.
Given the show’s premise, the over the top display of fashion and beauty felt on brand. Based on the graphic novel series by Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley, The Beauty explores a world where a sexually-transmitted virus transforms people into the epitome of physical perfection (but in Murphy’s signature body horror style, the glow up comes at a fatal cost.)
Hall—who plays an FBI agent who is assigned to the “catwalk carnage” case—opted for a figure-flaunting cut-out gown by Ludovic de Saint Sernin for the occasion. “When Ryan Murphy pitched me the concept, I felt like I was listening to Ryan Murphy deliver the most Ryan Murphy-sounding storyline I d ever heard,” she told Vogue. A silky Saint Laurent-clad Pope, who previously worked with Murphy on Hollywood and Pose, chimed in: “Ryan texted me and said, ‘Hey, you want to read something weird?’ I was like, ‘Ryan, everything you do is weird. What are you talking about?!’ And then I read it and said, ‘Oh, this is weird.’”
Another returning collaborator is Peters, who played serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in Monster, among other unsettling characters in the Murphy-verse. “It’s always a new character, and it’s always a new challenge,” he said, adding that the series offered a shift in tone. “This was an opportunity to play a less dark character. There was a lot to sink your teeth into, but it wasn’t going to be so isolating.”
Meanwhile, Kutcher plays a villain—a new direction for the star. “It seemed like a fun, interesting challenge—and a really poignant subject,” he said, drawing parallels between society’s current obsession with GLP1s. And while plenty will be said about the Versace speedos his character wears, Kutcher was dressed in a more subdued Todd Snyder look on the night. His favorite experience? Shooting said Speedos scene with Rosselini. “It was nerve-racking because I’m, like, yelling at one of the greatest of all time.”
Hadid, the show-opener, plays—you guessed it—a supermodel. On Wednesday, she graced the carpet in a scene-stealing red gown by Schiaparelli. “I love Daniel [Roseberry] so much, but I also know that [my character] Ruby would love Daniel as well,” Hadid told Vogue. “She would have definitely worn this dress.” Hadid is involved in one of the series’ most memorable fashion moments, executed by costume designer Sarah Evelyn, which sees her in a scarlet leather outfit. “I don t know if I ll ever wear red leather again,” she joked. “I wore that outfit for about five, six months straight…there were different versions of it because I was doing my own stunts. It was amazing, but the corset—she was tight—and I d rather be in sweatpants. But Ruby loved the outfit, and I loved the outfit while it was happening.”
Another real-life runway regular in the lineup is Amelia Gray, who celebrated her acting debut in a slip dress and blue fur stole from Demna’s Gucci debut. “I was told not to prepare [for shooting]… I just showed up as myself without realizing the lengths of which my body would have to go through on that day of filming, but it was incredible to learn and understand body movement,” she said.
While Murphy’s shows always place an emphasis on sartorial storytelling, co-executive producer Lou Eyrich noted that The Beauty goes even further. “We knew it was going to be fashion-forward, but we had no idea how much pedal-to-the-metal fashion there was going to be.” Nowhere is that more apparent than in the wardrobe of Rossellini’s character, Franny Frost. “She s not somebody you would want to meet, but she loves fashion,” Rossellini, clad in a Dolce Gabbana pinstripe suit, said. “She loves haute couture to the max. In fact, she thinks she is single-handedly going to save it from an economic downturn!”
Another character with a killer closet is Ramos’ Assassin, who wears sleek leather coats and edgy accessories, including an ornate eye patch. “Ryan was like, ‘He’s going to wear all the best clothes in the show. He’s a killer, but he’s really charismatic, funny, and sadistic—he takes joy in the art of killing.”
With guests ready to get settled in, MoMA’s Roy and Niuta Titus Theatre filled up fast. Following the screening of the first two episodes, which elicited multiple rounds of applause throughout, the crowd spilled back upstairs for an after-party. The space was transformed into a dimly-lit and glamorous experiment lab, with velvety couches and lounge chairs, silver tables, and decorative pillows. As DJ Stretch Armstrong soundtracked the room with nostalgic hits from Madonna and Chaka Khan, waiters in medical scrubs passed around aptly-named cocktails—think: The Virus and Cruel Beautiful—alongside wagyu beef toast and caviar-topped tater tots, rounded out by a raw bar and berries-and-cream stations. Nearby, models in Latex bodysuits, with lipstick-red lips in place of heads, posed with guests as they held oversized syringes. Joining cast members were the likes of Darren Criss, Christian Siriano, Law Roach, Indira Scott, and Tell Me Lies’ Alicia Crowder, Sonia Mena, Catherine Missal, and Spencer House.
On a night framed by the museum’s most notable masterpieces, The Beauty left a question-best posed by Ramos during the red carpet—mingling in the air: “How far will you go to be beautiful?”
The Beauty premieres on January 21 on FX, Hulu, and Disney+.
Photo by: Frank Micelotta/Picturegroup for FX1/24Bella Hadid
Photo by: Stephanie Augello/PictureGroup for FX2/24Ashton Kutcher
