It was once the epitome of chic, but celebrities attending New York’s premier fashion event are now more likely to be playing it for laughs – and likes
This was the night the Met Gala brought Marilyn Monroe back from the dead. If any lingering doubts remained about the power of the night as a force in American popular culture, they were silenced when Kim Kardashian stepped on to the red carpet wearing the very dress Monroe wore to sing Happy Birthday to JFK in 1962. Unworn for the intervening 60 years, the dress was fashion as holy relic, fashion as green-screen magic, fashion as skin-to-skin contact between screen goddesses from two very different centuries.
Reports of the demise of dressing up have turned out to be greatly exaggerated. The Met Gala is fashion’s biggest night of the year. Returning to the traditional first-Monday-in-May slot on the social calendar for the first time in three years, this year’s party made it abundantly clear that the fashion world is not remotely chastened, dimmed or otherwise humbled by the pandemic. From Katy Perry as a hamburger to Rihanna as the pope, the party has given us the most unforgettable celebrity looks of the past decade, and this year’s event showed no sign of slowing down.
Modern party dressing, trailblazed by the Met, is dressing up as fancy dress rather than dressing up as an aspiration to elegance. Fashion’s biggest night of the year is now entirely about looking spectacular, rather than stylish. Kylie Jenner and Nicki Minaj both wore baseball caps: white and worn backwards with a veil to complement Jenner’s Off White wedding dress; in black leather to match the leggings worn by Nicki Minaj. Jessie Buckley, in a Schiaparelli suit, wore a fake moustache. Gigi Hadid wore a burgundy latex bodysuit under a vast puffer jacket. Gucci designer Alessandro Michele and Jared Leto came as identical twins, down to their red satin bow ties and crystal hair barrettes. Irina Shayk wore a black leather biker jacket, and Gwen Stefani chose a lime-green bra top.
Chic is dead, and social media has blown good taste out of the water. Much is made of the ultra-exclusive invite list of the Met Gala, where each golden ticket comes at a price of £28,000, but what happens inside the party is entirely beside the point. The real party happens on Instagram, and everyone is invited. Kim Kardashian’s 300 million followers saw her in Marilyn’s dress before her table mates did.