Met Gala guests take artistic liberties with dress code
Vogue red carpet correspondent Emma Chamberlain and professional tennis player Naomi Osaka did not play it safe this year for the Met Gala, delivering custom works of art in honor of the dress code “Fashion is art.”
Osaka stunned as she left The Mark Hotel for the Gala in a dramatic Robert Wun white sculptural gown fitted with exaggerated shoulders and adorned with red feathers and a matching headpiece. A similar look by Wun sits inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute exhibit, “Costume Art.”
Chamberlain, who is known to change looks throughout the night, arrived in a breathtaking Mugler hand-painted dress. The star was dipped in a rainbow of colors from her décolletage down to the train of her body-hugging dress with fringe falling down the cuffs of the long-sleeve gown.
With all the fanfare around the “The Devil Wears Prada 2”, Met Gala Co-chair Anna Wintour opted for a cool mint ensemble — not the trendy cerulean blue from the first film. Wintour’s look featured a feathered cape and a beaded dress by Matthieu Blazy for Chanel that she classically paired with her signature bob and oversized sunglasses.
Other co-chairs of the evening Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams chose more subdued looks. Williams wore a sparkling black off-the-shoulder gown with a dazzling bejeweled neckpiece in homage to a painting of herself done by Robert Pruitt. Event sponsor Lauren Sánchez Bezos arrived in a form-fitting Schiaparelli gown.
Unlike last year’s blue carpet, this year’s carpet appeared intentionally forgotten by time with grass creeping up the steps. The carpet featured patches of overgrown grass peeking out from the stone steps with manicured shrubs lining the side railing and white wisteria dangling from the roof. Potted purple flowers stood at the entrance of the carpet in large terra-cotta planters.
Past Gala dress codes have honored designers and pulled from literature. Last year, the art of tailoring was center stage with the dress code “Tailored for you.” The high-profile event raises money for the Met's Costume Institute, and each year the dress code for the gala takes cues from the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition.
On display this Spring, the “Costume Art” exhibit will “examine the centrality of the dressed body.”
The relationship between fashion and art has not always been embraced. Art historian and author Nancy Hall-Duncan writes in her book, “Art X Fashion: Fashion Inspired by Art” that in the 19th century, art was perceived as classical and fashion was frivolous.
When Yves Saint Laurent held the Met’s first fashion exhibit in 1983, the exhibit was met with heavy criticism. Since then, the museum has held countless fashion exhibits throughout the years with museums around the world following suit. The Louvre put on its first fashion exhibition “Louvre couture” last year.
The dress code set by Wintour and the Met's Costume Institute curator, Andrew Bolton, is the final seal of approval that fashion is art, Hall-Duncan told The Associated Press.
“Isn’t that a giant step?” she said. “It will indeed change perceptions.”
How to watch the Met Gala carpet and celebrity looks
Didn't snag one of the pricey tickets or a spot on the ultra-exclusive guestlist?
The red carpet spectacle is available for all to watch online with the Vogue livestream. Ashley Graham, La La Anthony and Cara Delevingne will be hosting the livestream starting at 6 p.m. with Emma Chamberlain interviewing guests throughout the night.
The Associated Press will have a livestream of celebrities leaving a pair of New York hotels on their way to the gala beginning at 4:30 p.m. on APNews.com and YouTube. It's the first chance to see what attendees will be wearing before they hit the gala's carpet.