The American dream is such a cinematised cultural narrative that you almost doubt it to be real. If ever there were living testament to its truth, though, it would be Greta Lee – the acclaimed actress of Past Lives fame. Why? Well, on Wednesday night, she turned up to Dior’s Cruise 2027 show in Los Angeles with none other than her parents by her side.
The occasion’s significance was multifaceted. Lee, after all, was one of the first to be announced as a face of Jonathan Anderson’s Dior era – and she’s also a born and raised Angeleno, an embodiment of the city’s aptitude for starmaking. Her parents, however, aren’t. They migrated to the City of Angels in the early ’80s from Korea, with Lee born soon after their arrival.
“It sounds so cheesy and corny, but I’m going to say it anyway,” she says, speaking over the phone a couple of hours ahead of the show. “To me, they really represent the American dream.” Imbued with the sort of “brute strength and perseverance” that anyone born of immigrant parents, like myself, will know, they are people who have persisted against hostility in the name of self-actualisation and betterment; who have ventured to new pastures in the hope of building a better future, not just for themselves, but for those that come after them.
The Dior fashion show was, in itself, pastures new for the pair. Well, in so far as that they’d never before attended a fashion show of this scale and prestige. “They were so excited and so surprised to be invited,” Lee says. That said, there’s extensive common ground between the meticulously considered environment that Anderson is building at Dior, and that which Lee’s parents occupy. They possess, after all, artist souls – her mother is a painter and avid singer, while her father, a doctor by trade, indulges in a solo cello recital each night before bed: “He plays just for himself, but it’s a nightly ritual,” his daughter says. “He plays three songs, and has for about four decades: “The Star Spangled Banner”, Happy Birthday” and “Ave Maria”.
In any case, though, their attendance wasn’t entirely out of the blue: “My mom had heard about the venue being LACMA, and she was familiar with the new Geffen Galleries, so she… I would say, strongly nudged to be invited,” Lee says, the smile shining through her voice’s timbre. Her father, naturally, didn’t want to be left in the lurch on such a momentous occasion – an ask placed with Anderson later, their seats on the front row were confirmed.
Deservedly so: more than just creative spirits, Lee’s parents are low-key fashion folk at heart. “My mum is so fab,” the actress gushes. “She always has been. She was inspired by old Hollywood – by actresses, and certainly musicians – and she loves design.” That sensibility has been crucial in inculcating her own ineffably chic sense of style. “She buys things and wears them forever. There’s this one St John blouse of hers I have, with a map of Rome on it. It’s now threadbare and falling apart, but it’s just the most beautiful garment to us all.”
Her father, on the other hand, is gifted with, for want of a better work, rizz. “He really is his own guy,” she laughs. “He loves to mix athleisure with a fab leather accessory. He’s also a big bow-tie guy, and he loves his jewellery. He’s really living his best life.”
A concrete testament to that came shortly after Lee was announced as a Dior ambassador, an occasion commemorated by a family trip to the house’s Rodeo Drive flagship. “It was one of those experiences that I didn’t expect to be monumental, but it absolutely was,” she beams. “My dad walked out with the whole store on his body – shoes, a bracelet, two coats, a hat, a bag… he may be a doctor, he now carries a Saddle Bag to work every day!”
“They were just living out their dream of what is possible, what their wildest dreams of having this life could be,” Lee continues. “They’ve been through so much, and they built their whole lives here for us – me, my brother and my sister. So just walking around the store with them and watching them take it all in was just great. It was one of the most beautiful, incredible moments that would make the most cynical person on earth melt!”
The only thing could top that, then, was what we saw come to pass at the show – Lee resplendent in a black chiffon gown with a tiered skirt construction, from the Cruise 2027 collection itself, flanked by her parents – mum in a white tea dress speckled with ditsy florals, dad in a spiffy leather-collared mac, pink shirt and, of course, a black Saddle bag. That’s what American dreams are made of.
