Evan Ross Katz on Fashion, Astronauts, and Reverse-Engineering Fandom
Evan Ross Katz straddles lines. He's a writer, but also is written about. A pop culture commentator and a part of pop culture himself. A podcast-hosting, fashion-savvy 34-year-old that can riff as easily on Beyoncé as he does on Balenciaga.
In other words, he's exactly the kind of guy whose brain you want to pick. Which is why, when I found out he'd be attending Dior's over-the-top, opulent Carousel of Dreams event in New York to kick off the holiday season with Saks Fifth Avenue, I decided to hop on the phone with him post-party and do just that.
“Obviously it’s Dior, so I knew it was going to be a spectacle, but even still, I didn't realize the level that the production would be at," he says. A frequenter of this sort of thing, Ross Katz knows of what he speaks. So, I asked him to take me through his fit for the evening. But after that is when things get really interesting. Read on for more from Ross Katz on celebrity encounters, astronaut aspirations, and what happens when the interviewer becomes the interviewee.
The Coat
It was really fun because it was the kind of coat that you don't need to button, but you can put your hands in your pockets and sort of clench it together with your hands alone. So I was able to get a lot of movement out of the coat. When we were at my apartment earlier, getting ready and taking the photos, we stepped out onto my terrace and it was fun to just twirl around.
On Options
I had a moment yesterday with the photographer that came over to take the photos. He was like, “Do you want to see all of the photos or just the select?” And I was like, “Oh my God, please don’t show me all of the photos of me. If you show me all the photos of me, I’ll hate all of them. Like if you just show me the best ones, I’ll still hate a bunch of them because I don’t like looking at my own face, but I’ll be able to say, ‘Okay, that’s a good photo.’” So it’s one of those things where I love selects. I want some options, but not too many options, but not no options. It's very much a Goldilocks situation.
Getting Meta
I enjoy interviewing other writers because I’m someone who’s less interested in the questions that people ask and more in the flow of conversation and how people maneuver conversation. I’m also really fascinated with how much banter an interviewer does before they get into their questions. Because banter is really important in establishing the vibe, but if you banter for too long, you don’t get to the question asking. I’m interested in all of those small negotiations that take place within the interview. And I enjoy conversations like this because I feel like these days people don't really talk about interview as an art form. I grew up on Barbara Walters—reading her book Audition was so pivotal for me—and she was always talking about her approach to interview, and I don't really see that same sort of conversation today. I’m fascinated by any opportunity to both do the thing, but then have this meta conversation about us doing the thing.
Spacing Out
I’d like to learn baking, cooking, all of that, but I don’t have the patience nor the natural proclivity… Or perhaps an astronaut, because I’m very interested in that kind of career where when you say astronaut, people are like,“Oh, you go to space.” But I think they’re in space, maybe like, what? Two percent of the job? So I would be really interested to learn what does an astronaut do when they clock in for work at 9am. From an anthropological perspective, I would be very interested to learn about the life of an astronaut or of someone who the understanding of their job is very finite. I would love to expand my own understanding, but also I just think I would look chic in an astronaut suit.
About New Yorkers
I'm 34 and I moved to New York at 18. I'm on the precipice of having lived half of my life here, but I will always identify as a Pittsburgher just because I have so much pride in where I'm from and how that shaped who I am. I also just feel like there’s enough fucking New Yorkers in the world. Any New Yorker, transplant or born here, is going to advocate for the greatness of New York. I feel a particular need—always not just in moments like this, but even in conversations with friends and what have you—to always be advocating for Pittsburgh, as I would hope that anyone that comes from a place that's not one of the major cities is.
The Night's Highlight...
Okay, the highlight of last night was definitely meeting Rachel Zeigler in person. We have been penpals cross-platform; this is like a Twitter-slash-Instagram relationship that’s been going on for years. And I literally turned around at one point, we locked eyes, and had that moment of mutual shaking. IRL shaking, not internet shaking. So getting to meet her and see her in person—the beauty that she is physically and just the presence of her—was just so lovely and made me so happy. And then I will also say I did walk past Alexandra Daddario, and as an OG White Lotus fan, I did feel that tingle of like, “I’m in the presence of an original cast member of the White Lotus.” So, that was exciting although we didn’t have an interaction—but in my mind, we did.
...And the Year's
Maybe there’s recency bias here, but the highlight of the year was definitely this Chaos dinner that I just hosted with Meta, Instagram, and Threads, where I got to assemble Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jonathan Anderson, Trixie Mattel, Kathy Hilton, Zachary Quinto—this legends ball in the ERK cinematic universe. That was definitely the highlight because I’m always the person talking about the thing; I’ve never been the person creating the thing. So that paradigm shift for me was anxiety-inducing to say the least, but incredibly rewarding. To end the year on that note was really thrilling, especially as I start to think about 2024 and some irons that I have in the fire by creating more work as opposed to being a commentator or critic. It was really inspiring to me as far as thinking about the possibilities of taking my love of fandom and trying to reverse engineer it to create something that I would be a fan of. And again, I don't know if I'm capable of it, but I feel inspired to try.
Grooming by Dior Beauty
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