Today’s A-listers hope to generate their own electricity at the Met Gala on Monday night, whose dress code is “golden glamor”. However, instead of a top dress like Mrs. Vanderbilt, some connoisseurs fear that attendees will embrace the most sticky aspects of late 19th-century Manhattan society. Will the dresses look like the costumes of the popular HBO series “The Gilded Age”, in which Carrie Coon’s Bertha climbs socially, swans around her Fifth Avenue mansion with sewing? While fancy helped make Anna Wintour’s annual Met Gala the most anticipated red carpet of the year – “It’s a bigger affair than the Oscars,” said Christina Pacelli, who has dressed celebrities like Laverne Cox for the big night – some Observers say the lifts have become very fancy. In 1996, Princess Diana attended the gala in an elegant Dior slip dress. Bertrand Rindoff Petroff / Getty Images “It has turned into a costume party,” designer and frequent gala chair Tom Ford told reporter Amy Odell in her book “Anna: The Biography,” released Tuesday. “[It] “Once upon a time there were very elegant people who wore very nice clothes that went to an exhibition for the 18th century,” Ford continued. “You did not have to look like the 18th century, you did not have to dress like a hamburger, you did not have to get up in a truck because you could not sit because you were wearing a chandelier.” Ford may have a slightly idealized view of past galas – at least one person appeared at the 1981’s “The Eighteenth-Century Woman” ball gown, wearing knee-length trousers! But the clothes and themes became more elegant in the days when Princess Diana attended an elegant Dior slip dress. Designer Gianni Versace and model Naomi Campbell on bonus in 1995. Gene Shaw / Getty Images In recent years we have seen Rihanna wearing a pope hat for the 2018 “Heavenly Bodies”, Jared Leto carrying a copy of his head for the 2019 “Camp” and Lil Nas X modeling a sexy C-3PO costume for last year’s “American Independence”, which he threw to reveal a glittering Versace cat below. And lest you think Ford was exaggerating, Katy Perry wore a chandelier and a hamburger suit – the same night. Katy Perry wore a hamburger suit in 2019. Kevin Mazur / Getty Images
“It’s very Halloween”
“Some of the things Kim Kardashian is wearing – I mean, it’s very Halloween,” said John Tiffany, a fashion historian and brand consultant who once helped Eleanor Lambert, the legendary fashion journalist who dreamed of the Costume Institute’s first benefit. . was named Party of the Year in 1948. At the time, Tiffany said, the party was a fundraising dinner, but in the 1970s, when the recently fired Vogue editor Diana Vreeland began staffing the Costume Institute, the gala was associated with any fashion. the exhibition opened at the museum, “which was always completely above the top”. “It was always a creative party,” said Denita Sewell, a fashion professor at Arizona State University who worked at the Costume Institute in the 1990s – when lower-level employees could actually attend the party. “People were always dressed, but it was not so extreme; no one would do something that was not cute and elegant.” Kim Kardashian at Balenciaga in 2021.Justin Lane / EPA “The issues were noted,” he added, “but it was not that the whole party was competing with the exhibition.” Sometimes it can feel that way. “She has gone from an industry event celebrating fashion history to a celebrity celebrating,” stylist Tracy Taylor told The Post. “Designers were really the focus of 20th and early 21st century gala: Alexander McQueen, Halston – Halston would never have designed something you could not sit in! But lately, the focus is on issues and I feel it encourages more extreme interpretations and clothing. “ Last year, Lil Nas X wore a sexy C3PO suit for “American Independence”, which he threw to reveal a glittering Versace catsuit underneath. Mike Coppola / Getty Images The invitation list has changed to include more celebrities – especially, in recent years, musicians, who are accustomed to wearing costumes on stage and often treat fashion as a show. “When you’re a musician like Rihanna, it’s not so big to look weird,” Taylor said. “They are expected to be a little more ostentatious or really creative and show who they are through how they dress.” And that translates to the red carpet. Jared Leto keeps a copy of his head in 2019. The theme for that year was “Camp. Karwai Tang / Getty Images
Gilded controversy
“Gilded glamor” is a dress code that allows for many different interpretations – from a corseted dress with a huge fuss and pieces from luxurious taffeta to a gold lame slip to a sequined dress – and many ways to climb the ante. The golden age was a time of “tremendous growth and wealth due to industrialization and real estate, and the dresses reflected that luxury,” Taylor said. “It was about these new celebrities and the peacock, and that’s the theme of the Met Gala.” However, it could be read as a deaf tone. The period, which lasted from 1870 to 1900, was also marked by extreme poverty – with exploiting migrant families living in busy, unhealthy homes on the Lower East Side, while Fifth Avenue Titans dined on oysters and lobster with parmesan. (modeled, crooked in 17th century French court fashion). Rihanna wore a pope hat for the “Heavenly Bodies” of 2018. Carlo Allegri / REUTERS “The world is in a state of liquidity,” said Bronwyn Cosgrave, presenter of the Fashion Conversations podcast, referring to the war in Ukraine and the rise of violence in the United States. “In New York, where the Met Gala is taking place, there are huge problems with homelessness, mental health problems… I’m not sure gold glamor is what we need.” Others argue that it is exactly what is needed right now. “When times are tough, people turn to imagination,” Phyllis Magidson, a fashion curator with the New York City Museum, told The Post. Carrie Coon plays Bertha’s social climber on the popular HBO series “The Gilded Age”. Photo by Alison Rosa / HBO “Everyone is abused, and what better way to escape the fashion of the time?” Some attendees also embrace the glorious fancy theme of the gala. “I think dressing up with a theme is part of having fun, personally,” Katy Perry’s stylist Tatiana Waterford told The Post. “Katy always dresses with a theme. But he always had a special sense of style offered for an extravagant appearance at the Met Gala. ” That said, even Perry plans to cut things short this year. “She will not look frantic, but she is Katy, so there will be no lack of drama,” said Waterford. “I wish I could reveal more, but you just have to wait and see!”
