Met Gala 2021: The Good, The Questionable, and The Unexpected
J’Nae Writes is a newsletter exploring fashion, design, and style.
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Thanks to the unending and cough-able events of the past year, red carpets have been looking a little different for what feels like forever. Designer gowns, dazzling runways full of celebrities and their gleeful hangers-on, as well as performances fit for a king or queen were all put on hold - and instead replaced with mediocre virtual gatherings that left our insatiable appetites hungry for something out of the ordinary. Something that created photo opportunities, something where we could witness dressing downs of the fashion elite, and something where we could rate and hate questionable outfits all from the comforts of our own homes, safely tucked away behind a computer screen.
The Met Gala, hailed as one of the biggest fashion events of the year, returned last Monday and filled that gaping hole that I was unaware needed filling. Traditionally scheduled for the first Monday in May but postponed due to the pandemic, the annual fundraising event for the Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts is like the fashion olympics and a star-studded prom night all in one. Anyone who is anyone yearns to be on the guest list as it gives us some of the most epic sartorial looks on the fashion circuit, and after being off of the calendar in 2020, fashionistas' favourite night out made a triumphant return.
Every year the Met Gala has a theme, with this year being ‘In America: A Lexicon of Fashion’. Whether the stars who were in attendance or not got the memo is another story, but I’m going to delve into the good, the bad, and the questionable. Brace yourself!
The Good
I can’t begin this without giving an honourable mention to my favourite fashionable star, badgalriri. Rihanna may have been decked out in Balenciaga, which is a European fashion house so contradictory to the American theme, but her *casual* look gave us a couture take on the black hoodie and beanie which have become synonymous with Black culture - a look that Black communities have long been criminalised and criticised for wearing. Clever no? While I’m here I may as well give a little shout out to her plus one, A$AP Rocky, who wore a quilt by LA label ERL, representing the patchwork of cultures that make up America. These two together give me iconic celebrity fashionable couplings (more to come on this in a later newsletter).
I’m a big Formula One fan. If you didn’t know, now you know (if any of you readers want to slide a few tickets to race day my way I’d be eternally grateful). But I digress, what I really want to talk about is 7x F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton buying a whole table at The Met Gala in an effort to highlight underrepresented Black designers. Among those were Kenneth Nicholson who Sir Hamilton chose to wear, as well as Theophilio and Jason Rembert. Whilst his look may have received some critique, I love how he blended the masculine and feminine, and I have to give him bonus points for shining a spotlight on Black American talent. Bravo.
Amanda Stenberg showed up to the Met wearing a classic American designer, Thom Browne, and styled her flawless braids into a durag in an innovative nod to Black culture. Is it any surprise so many of this year's attendees chose to represent their Black culture and heritage, which is largely missing from America’s fashion history? I think not.
I live for Euphoria star Barbie Ferreira’s Jonathan Simkhai gown which oozed Great Gatsby sex appeal, she looked as if she graciously stepped out of the roaring 20’s and she absolutely fulfilled the brief. London born plus size model Paloma Elsesser was the only attendee to arrive wearing a piece by a quintessential American designer, Zac Posen. She looked hot, smoking hot. Great to see one of Posen's designs grace the red carpet after he had to shutter his label, I missed seeing his creations.
The Questionable
A cowboy hat, a high-slit leather look dress, complete with Western inspired jewellery, and a belt that looks like its come straight out of Paris Hilton and Nicole Richies The Simple Life days, all of this together and you have J Lo’s Met Gala look. Just because you make a statement with your outfit, doesn’t mean it's a good one. Yes, the American independence theme may have been nailed with this Ralph Lauren ensemble, but surely her team didn’t have to do her dirty like this? The faux fur wrap and the platform heels just didn’t do it for me, sometimes less really is more.
I don’t know much about Kim Petras, but I do know her Collina Strada dress with a 3D horse head bustier was a look I’m not likely to forget in a hurry. For her first Met Gala appearance Petras did go all out with one of the night's boldest outfits, but maybe someone should have told her to reign it in? Am I missing something, or is horse girl fashion a thing? The internet’s memes around this do have me loling hardcore however, so I must thank her for this.
Ahhh Miss Williams, this one hurts. A lot. Serena's outfit consisted of a silver Gucci bodysuit with embellished stars and lace, and an ombré feather heavy cape that fell into a long train resembling a feather duster. According to the star her outfit was “superhero inspired”, but I’d love to know what superhero movie she was referencing? It would’ve been better minus the off putting bodysuit, as the cape is what stole the show - though I’m not sure this outfit would win her any trophies anytime soon. Her beau however, husband Alexis Ohanian, wore a a $283,000 NFT inspired by the tennis star on the lapel of his rather dapper-looking tuxedo, and for this I have to salute.
The Unexpected
There’s bring your kid to work day, then there's Frank Ocean at The Met Gala 2021. What was with the ghoulish green robot baby, couldn’t he find anyone else to accompany him to one of the most sought-after events of the year? I get that the mechanical infant, which he named Cody, was decked out in an outfit designed by Ocean’s recently launched luxury company, Homer, but this was creepy. I don’t know what the Shrek and Donkey was going on here (the doll looks like a baby Shrek), but this was a hard no in my books.
Kim K, where you at? I think one of the most unexpected, and understated, looks from this year's Met Gala comes from one of the most visible women in the world - none other than Kim Kardashian herself. It’s incredibly interesting how when everyone wants to see you, expects to see you, you show up to one of the biggest events of the year, unable to be seen. In somewhat of a middle finger to the red carpet, Ms Kardashian’s understated monochromatic Balenciaga outfit gave us no glitz, no glam, nothing. Instead of being able to criticise, all were able to comment on is the absence of any sort of ‘look’. This is a statement in itself, and there's something powerful in owning one's own image and taking back control. What can we expect from her post-Kanye? I’m unsure, but I’m interested to see where she goes with this.
In a departure from her usual OTT neon outfits, Billie Eilish turned up to this year's Met Gala in a classically glamorous gown by Oscar De La Renta. She exuded old school Hollywood vibes, in a peachy tulle number complete with a floating train. This look comes with an important caveat though, in order for Eilish to wear one of their designs, the fashion house has to stop using fur. “I find it shocking that wearing fur isn’t completely outlawed at this point in 2021,” Eilish – who is a vegan and animal rights activist – said in a statement to Vogue. Making a real change to the fashion landscape whilst looking like a descendant of Audrey Hepburn or Marilyn Monroe, Billie Eilish 1: everyone else: 0.
What now?
After a brief hiatus, the fashion soirée of the year didn’t disappoint, depending on which way you look at it. We were given sights that appealed to our sartorial senses, and celebrities did indeed show all-the-way-out, but the chaos and confusion, and complete deviation from the theme, cannot go unaddressed.
The dominance of A-list celebs in European labels like Balenciaga, Valentino, and Versace, at the Met Gala 2021 highlights how the epicentre of luxury fashion has shifted towards Europe and away from the United States (if it was ever in the US to begin with). America may be undergoing a fashion renaissance, and I do agree with Andrew Bolton, the Wendy Yu Curator in Charge of the Costume Institute, when he said it's the right “time to reexamine American identity and fashion” due to social and political movements, but was the Met Gala the right time and place to do this? And isn’t this a conversation that should be going on in the industry at large?
I’m left debating the lasting appeal and relevance of the Met Gala. Has it become just another fashion event that takes up space on an already crammed calendar? How far can they go, what more can they do? Whether you're for it, or not, in just a few months time the Met will have a chance to go at it once again. The next Met Gala, complete with the same theme as what we just witnessed, is scheduled for its traditional timing of the first Monday in May in 2022. You best believe I’ll be watching, pen and paper ready.
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Catch you next time,
J’Nae
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