MET Gala Honours Kawakubo and Few People Dressed Like They Got It
It’s the most wonderful time of the year… MET Gala! Readers, you know pumped up this night is for fashion lovers like me. It’s the most fashiony-fashion night on the entire fashion calendar. The event is the kick off fundraiser for the MET’s Costume Institute. It’s a fantastical night full of celebrities, fashion, and fighting over the choices of the first two.
Let’s be clear. This is and invite only, themed event. Yes, many attendees have - and will continue to - show up “off theme.” Booo. It’s a party for the COSTUME Institute and it has a different theme year over year highlighting a designer’s body of work.
To those that dismiss the theme I think you are being rude to the host. It’s like agreeing to come to your friends retro costume party and you show up in basic jeans and shirt. Why go if you’re not going to play? If being rude to the host is not reason enough for you to join in my current state of "you-are-off-theme"-yelling-at-the-computer-screen-booing frenzy, I think you are, at the very least, boring.
I said it.
Before I dig into the best and worst, let’s get on the same page theme wise. The Met’s website introduces the latest exhibit, the “Art of the In-Between” this way:
The Costume Institute's spring 2017 exhibition will examine the work of Japanese fashion designer Rei Kawakubo, known for her avant-garde designs and ability to challenge conventional notions of beauty, good taste, and fashionability. The thematic show will feature approximately 150 examples of Kawakubo's womenswear for Comme des Garçons dating from the early 1980s to her most recent collection.
The galleries will illustrate the designer's revolutionary experiments in "in-betweenness"—the space between boundaries. Objects will be organized into eight aesthetic expressions of interstitiality in Kawakubo's work: Fashion/Anti-Fashion, Design/Not Design, Model/Multiple, Then/Now, High/Low, Self/Other, Object/Subject, and Clothes/Not Clothes. Kawakubo breaks down the imaginary walls between these dualisms, exposing their artificiality and arbitrariness.
Okay. Let's get a few things out on the table. First, can we agree that this night deserves a different analysis than say, 70’s cruise wear a la Halston or Diane von Furstenburg, cha? It’s a different, deliberate, avant-guard look. Second, a heads up that distilling the “in-between” theme down to a sexy, naked, body con dresses doesn’t qualify “best dressed” for me. Never has, and it’s insulting that on this night, with this designer one would.
We good?
I like to frame my commentary on a few things: interpretation of the theme and genuine individuality. Is it too much to ask that you (and your team) pick something that reflects the party you’re going to and shows off who you are as a person? Isn’t that the whole point of wearing fashion? To achieve personal style regardless of what event or where you go? I think it does.
Without further pause, I give you my *best* along with first reaction to seeing it on that beige and blue - note they changed it up from the typical red because this is not a typical designer - carpet.
Ladies Best
- Solange Knowles (Thom Brown) – “Manipulating the idea of traditional suiting with down is genius. Bonus points for dressing on-theme in a designer other than Kawakubo.”
Next Best
- Priyanka Choprya (Ralph Lauren) – “The trench coat as a ball gown adaptation make my brain hurt. In a good way.”
- Celine Dion (Versace) - “Celine is backkkkkkk!”
- Tracee Ellis Ross (Comme des Garçons) – “Cheeky look. I bet she has more fun than most.”
- Sarah Jessica Parker (did not attend 2017) - "Wait, WHAT? She's not here? Meh... I bet she'd be on the best dressed anyway."
- Ruth Negga (Valentino) – “The flat front, no shape dress is more provocative that showing her body, isn’t it? Wait... that back?”
- Rihanna (Comme des Garçons) – “So weird. So amazing. She gets it. Bow down.”
- Zendaya (Dolce & Gabanna Alta Moda) – “The volume of the skirt makes it. And that hair. THAT HAIR.”
Though visually striking, I won’t support Katy Perry’s choice to wear Maison Margela as it’s still headed by documented racist and Creative Director, John Galliano.
Fellas Best
- Rami Malek (Dior Homme) – “That red. That tailoring. More please, Rami.”
Next Best
- Sean Combs (Christian Louboutin shoes) – “I am so surprised that he picked this. I think it works? It works! Good for Puffy!”
- Wiz Khalifa (Thom Brown) – “Wiz Jumps off the carpet. He knows exactly who he is.”
- Frank Ocean (Balmain) – “No jacket is bold, no?”
- Ashton Sanders - "Uhhhh, all leather and yellow mock neck? Badass."
- Jaden Smith (Louis Vuitton) – “Oh my, that’s your hair in your hands, Jaden. In-between accessories?”
Best Duo
I can't even with the Bundchen/Brady's. Assholes.
I can - and will - jumpy clap all day for Helen Lasichanh and Pharrell who actually took their hosting duties in mind when choosing their look.
To be the best you have to show up like you know who you are and what’s going on. The above proved to me that they got it. As for the rest of the models and celebrities, I ask, who helped dress you?
Want more MET Gala coverage? Check out previous 'More to It' posts from 2016 and 2015. Vogue has a growing and comprehensive gallery of all the looks mentioned above.
