Met Gala Review

The Met Gala is an annual fundraising and charity event for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute held on the first Monday of May. This year, the Gala celebrates its 76th year with a star-studded guest list as it does every year. In truth, most of what goes on during the Gala remains a mystery to the general public due to the event’s strict no-phone policy. What the public gets to see every year, however, is the Hunger Games-esque looks that grace the “red” carpet as the celebrities enter the exclusive event. 

Traditionally, the theme of the Met Gala coincides with the theme of the temporary exhibition displayed in the Met. For example, last year’s theme and exhibit were in honor of Karl Lagerfeld, a former creative director of Chanel. However, this year, the theme and the exhibition differed from each other. The exhibit was “Sleeping Beauties: Re-awakening Fashion” and it displayed over 400 years of fashion history from the Met’s archives and brought new life into clothes that are too fragile to be worn. The exhibition also had three different sectors of the natural world – land, sea, and sky. Conversely, the official theme of the Gala itself was “The Garden of Time.” To quote Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada, “Florals… for spring? Groundbreaking.” However, the theme is based on the obscure 1962 short story of the same name written by J.G. Ballard. In this tale, a count and his wife attempt to keep hold of their utopian villa by plucking time-stopping flowers from his garden. This theme is especially ironic due to the culture of exclusivity and elitism surrounding the Met Gala. 

I never go into this event expecting to be wowed as celebrities are notorious for ignoring the theme, and “The Garden of Time” is rather ambiguous for a theme, but I fear that this year may be a new low. To start, the men, as they do every year, were disappointing. It honestly baffles me how they get invited to fashion events like this and still proceed to show up in a black tuxedo. At the very least, this year there were black floral appliques on coats or \ floral lapel pins. I will admit that there was also some deviation from the traditional tux silhouette with elements such as bellbottoms, mismatched hems, and variations in color or fabric, so I will take that as a step in the right direction. Most of the women at the event fell into one of three categories: florals, animal motifs, or black dresses, but I will go into my favorites later.  Another factor that I believe led to this year’s mediocrity was the fact that popular fast fashion brand H&M dressed multiple celebrities. When I read this as I was looking through the photos and who dressed who, I had to do a double take. I could not believe that H&M had created those outfits as H&M is not known as a luxury brand in any sense of the word. I had hoped that more up-and-coming designers would be dressing celebrities rather than large corporate designers. In comparison to their regular offerings, these clothes were astounding, but when put next to other designers, they were inadequate. For example, Quannah Chasinghorse wore H&M and the things that carried her look were the handmade Native American beadwork accessories that she wore, not the dress. 

While this year’s crop of looks was disappointing, a few dresses stood out to me and I would be remiss not to mention them. Here are my top five looks of the Gala in no particular order. 

  • Aliaa Bhatt- Aliaa Bhatt stunned in a custom saree by Sabyasachi with intricate beadwork, a delicate floral tulle train, and fringe reminiscent of the 1920s. I know that I complained about the florals, but if you are going to do florals, this is how you do it. I love how Bhatt seamlessly weaved her background with the theme of the event and also incorporated aspects of the land, sky, and sea into her outfit as well, adding a connection to the exhibit itself.

  • Tyla - Tyla arrived in Hayden Williams with a refreshing take on the theme. Her dress appeared to be made out of sand and she held a handbag that looked like an hourglass. Tyla took inspiration from the word “time” and also the short story that the Gala was based on this year. She had an absolutely stunning Met Gala debut, and I am excited to see what she will do in the future. 

  • Lana del Rey - Lana del Rey read the source material and brought the end of the story to life with her briar-studded gown from Alexander McQueen. This dress is inspired by a dress from their autumn/winter 2006-2007 collection.

  • Sabrina Harrison - Another celebrity who used “time” as the operative word in the theme. Sabrina Harrison gave visions of a Dali-esque clock as well as watch faces melting across the dress. The dress was created by jewelry designer Chrishabana who created the look from head to toe.

  • Chloë Sevigny - While Chloë Sevigny’s dress did not match the theme of the red carpet, she did a marvelous job emulating the motifs of the exhibition itself with this historically inspired, tastefully deconstructed dress by designer Dilara Findikoglu.

By Leah Medeiros