On September 13th, fashion’s biggest night was held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. This year’s theme was “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.” Despite how original and beautiful their looks may be, this fundraising event welcoming stars, young creatives, and industry paragons always has some attendees that do not stick to theme, and in my view, sometimes do not even know what they are wearing.
The MET gala acts as a reminder to people that fashion can also be art. Here are the best and worst theme-complying looks in my opinion.
Top 3 costumes that follow the theme
Quannah Chasinghorse’s culturally and thematically relevant outfit
The 19-year-old model and activist nailed the theme. She used her native-American heritage as inspiration, wearing a Navajo jewellery collection coming from her “aunty” Jocelyn Billy-Upshaw’s, which traditionally represents its wearer’s status. She also wore an elegant flowing gold lamé dress and a sleek hairstyle. “. The ideas for this outfit were cohesive, detailed and very thought through.
Grimes’ sword
Grimes took a sword cast from a COLT AR15, the notorious American weapon with her to the fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, as an accessory for her Frank Herbert’s American novel, Dune- inspired look. She reached out to the team in filming the feature adaptation of the book coming out next month to borrow an original mask from the film.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her bold political statement
What better outfit for a congresswoman for an event with an American theme that a bold political statement? The socialist politician Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez wore a white gown by Brother Vellies, splashed with a political slogan across the back. One detail that shows the craftsmanship of this piece is the bottom curve of the C in “rich” nicely mirrored the tulle hem.
Top 3 celebrities that did not stick to the theme
Kendall Jenner’s everything but American costume
There is no doubt that the super-model’s dress is beautiful and detailed, but we can’t help but notice the similarity between it and Kim Kardashian’s 2019 met Gala costume. Originality is already out of the picture, but what about the relevancy to the theme? This is what Kendall’s team had to say:” The inspiration was Audrey Hepburn’s My Fair Lady, we just made a modern take on that.”
Someone should have told them that Audrey was Belgian/ British, and that My Fair Lady is actually set in London, this way, perhaps, they would have chosen something more appropriate for the MET Gala’s American theme.
Rihanna’s Duvet
The hopes were high for this music artist and entrepreneur, as she has stood out with her well-crafted and extremely original outfits in previous years, but this time she looks like she rolled out of bed in her duvet. There is something that makes it somewhat relevant to the theme, the clash between street wear and high fashion, very prominent in American hip-hop culture. Even then , Timothée Chalamet’s outfit, with the same inspiration, did a better job at expressing this and giving it a different twist.
3. Lil NaasX’s stunning, yet not American costume
Lil Naas X’s outfit was undoubtedly one of the most interesting and elaborate outfits, making him go viral. He wore three layers that he took off one by one. He explained that the outfits represented the three different stages in his music career in the public eye. First being guarded, and not sharing too much about himself. Later having an “armour” to protect himself from criticism and rejection, and later being his uncensored, fabulous self.
The idea and the execution of this outfit are genius but wearing a European aristocrat cloak or a medieval armour doesn’t exactly work with the American theme. It is, however, hard not to applaud the creativity and vision behind these costumes.
For a look at all of the costumes on the night, see Vogue’s gallery.
