By Hania Mahmoud

The Met Gala, a fundraising event hosted by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, is considered to be fashion’s night out. It usually takes place on the first Monday of May, but due to the pandemic, the event was pushed back to September. An event notorious for its themes and even more so, the exciting fashion that it inspires proved once again it’s ability to invoke conversations while still celebrating fashion.

This years theme was ‘In America: A Lexicon of Fashion’, which prompted many attendees to channel American icons, allude to historic decades, or wear designs handcrafted by Americans designers themselves. Andrew Bolton, the Head Curator of the Costume Institute at the MET, further expands on the concept as a way to “re-examine American identity and fashion, especially as it has changed over the last several years due to both political and social justice movements.” Moreover, we can view the materialization of this introspection by viewing all the looks that graced the red carpet.

When combining the idea of fashion and America, a popular concept that springs to mind is that of the 1920’s and the extravagant style associated with it. While many attendees alluded to this era, Barbie Ferreira dazzled the crowd in her pearl encrusted ensemble designed by Jonathan Simkhai. With the pearl features adorning her body horizontally and vertically, it plays a primary role in outlining the silhouette of the dress. The vertical pearls that run across the length of the dress help in creating a playful, flowy feel reminiscent of a 1920’s flapper whereas, the horizontal string of pearls enhance her figure and encircle her effortlessly. Moreover, this dress also highlights the development of fashion and touches upon the ever-changing idea of a desired silhouette as a 1920’s garment would feature narrower and more masculine cuts, this period enjoys embracing form-fitting dresses.

Following an appeal to the 1920’s, comes an ode to Old Hollywood Glamour. This time around, Billie Eilish, one of this year’s co-chairs, wore an Oscar De La Renta dress inspired by Marylin Monroe and her childhood love of Barbies. The ball gown sports a structured corset with clear boning alongside tulle wrapped around her shoulder and an oversized train. All these features help in creating the Old Hollywood feel which exudes elegance and sophistication. What is equally interesting is that the oversized train that trails behind her is her personal ode to her former style of baggier garments and her steady evolution from that. Thereby, her outfit has both reflected the theme as well as her own journey with fashion and style.

What the Super Bowl is to football, the Met Gala is to fashion and Ciara’s dress encapsulates the importance of both in modern American pop culture. Designed by Peter Dundas, the metallic neon lime green dress is dedicated to her husband, famous football player, Russell Wilson. The dress features a bold, structured shoulder inspired by 80’ fashion, while also mirroring the broad silhouette of a linebacker. The dress also donned the number 3 of which is also her husband’s football jersey number as well as waist cut-outs to further highlight the number while also juxtaposing masculinity and femininity. Lastly, she topped the look off with a Judith Lieber crystalized football clutch and Wilson’s Super Bowl ring.

Lastly, Debbie Harry celebrated the theme by playing into patriotism and its aesthetics. Wearing a Zac Posen design, the bodice of the dress is a structured, rigid blue denim jacket which lends itself to referencing American fashion and its common association with denim fabric, whereas the skirt appears to be almost completely deconstructed with the white and red tool, a reference to the original 13 American colonies, barely situated on the exposed silhouette wiring. These intended features are able to spark conversation about America’s ever changing social and political landscape especially post previous presidencies and pandemic.

Overall, the Met Gala always features people who strictly follow theme, those who completely ignore it, and those who lie somewhere in the middle of somewhat grasping it. Nonetheless, the excitement this night garners is like no other in the fashion world as it allows both attendees and the audience to be privy to the playfulness, the artistry, and the genius involved in the process of conceptualizing and creating these garments. Nevertheless, as per tradition of the Met Gala, there will be a second part, on the first Monday of May under the theme of ‘In America: An Anthology of Fashion’.

ST.ART does not own the rights to any images used in the article.