DRIP or DROP: Met Gala Edition
‘Tis the season to be jolly… It’s fashion season.
After all the fashion weeks, it’s finally time for the biggest fashion event of the year, the Met Gala, short-cut for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala.
“It’s essentially an opening-night party and fundraiser for an annual fashion exhibit curated by the Costume Institute, the museum’s fashion department, and the only curatorial department at the Met that has to fund itself (2021, Nguyen and Spellings).”
Each year, there is a chosen theme, and the guests dress up accordingly. However, remember that this is a huge event where only celebrities most often partnered with big brands attend, so it is only reasonable to see extremely over-the-top and “interesting” high-fashion looks. As daring as it is, many of these celebrities (unsurprisingly) flop and become a meme on the internet. Nevertheless, there are quite a lot of them who actually pull through and manage to secure a legendary moment in fashion history.
Now that all the explaining is done, are you ready to see four of the writer’s absolute favorite looks and four of the most questionable looks seen at the Met Gala? Well, ready or not, here we go!
DROP #1: Madonna, 2009: ‘The Model As Muse: Embodying Fashion’
What in the world is this? OK, this look in general is just a really bad idea. Madonna wears a Louis Vuitton scrunchie/bunny ears(?) with that puffy low-cut dress and suddenly a pair of -thigh-high latex boots. The theme this year was basically pretty free, so many celebrities just did whatever — birthing many questionable looks such as Rihanna’s emo cut. However, this is not what the writer would call high fashion. This is just weird, and the “weirdness” completely washed away Louis Vuitton and Madonna’s image.
DRIP #1: Naomi Campbell, 1995: ‘Haute Couture’
This may not look like much, especially with all the extravagant looks nowadays (be ready :”)). Here, Naomi Campbell wears the Versace Haute Couture column gown with a tight straight fit, which paired with her simple straight hair, gives an elegant vibe to the look. However, the detailing, from the extravagant beading, the slight cuts at the neckline and hemline, the chunky highlights, up until the pastel-toned makeup, add so much more to it. This all comes together to give off major 90s supermodel vibes, appropriate for this iconic human.
DROP #2: 3LW, 2001: ‘Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years’
Why would you pull up to the Met Gala looking like this…? The girl group 3LW wears striking yellow outfits that seem to fit the Y2K era, so it makes sense in that way. It’s the Met Gala though. Also, the theme was about the influence of former first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, on fashion, and if you look for pictures, you can see that her style was NOTHING like this. This just does not make sense overall.
DRIP #2: Kate Bosworth, 2018: ‘Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination’
Kate Bosworth recreates her wedding look by wearing a ballgown that is similar to her bridal gown made by the same designer, Oscar de la Renta. The gown’s high-low cut was definitely a good choice. It could have looked quite droopy and boring if the whole front reached the floor, but the elevated cut, exposing the shoes, managed to save that from happening. Nevertheless, the long trail connected to the veil at the back makes up for the potential lack of elegance of the short front and adds a more gothic style to the look.
DROP # 3: Kim Kardashian, 2021: ‘In America: A Lexicon of Fashion’
Yeah. What. Here, Kim wears something by Balenciaga. Apparently this look revolved around the concept of being a celebrity and being able to notice her just by her silhouette, which is her brand or something of that sort. Kim was also opposed to this idea, but she was eventually persuaded and agreed with the designers. She should have not. This look became a meme online and people still do not understand why they had to take it this far. It’s actually kinda funny. Kendall at the back looks stunning though.
DRIP #3: Rihanna, 2021: ‘In America: A Lexicon of Fashion’
Honestly, I don’t really know what’s up with A$AP Rocky, so we’ll only talk about Rihanna. She’s wearing Balenciaga with chunky jewelry, and what could have been a disaster actually turned out to be really, really great. The right oversized fit of the coat (?), the heavy bling, and the dark smokey makeup really matched her brand. Being the final celebrity to walk the red carpet that night, she definitely did it justice with her aura and unbeatable style which only she herself tops off every year. Apparently, some people hated it, but I think it looks great.
DROP # 4: Kim Petras and Hillary Taymour, 2021: ‘In America: A Lexicon of Fashion’
Huh? Here, Kim Petras and Hillary Taymour wear Collina Strada dresses with these weird horse heads on the chest. Why? They definitely make a statement but not in the way that anyone would like. Honestly, the horse heads are not the only problem. The bustle skirt (the skirt with the things on the sides) has been seen quite a bit recently, and it’s just not it. I, personally, hate it. Bye.
DRIP #4: Zendaya, 2019: ‘Camp: Notes on Fashion’
You saw it coming. Nothing will be able to top this. Zendaya wears a blue Tommy Hilfiger dress resembling Cinderella’s ball gown. This is not just an ordinary blue dress as it slowly lit up from bottom to top when her “fairy godfather”, the designer, waved his magic wand at her. Apparently, the idea came from the evolution of Zendaya’s career as she finally moves on from the Disney image to her new image in Euphoria. “It’s almost like this is the last hoorah and the last time people will identify her as a Disney princess… (Roach, 2019)” From the imagery to the actual execution, this look was legendary. Although there are many more amazing and terrifying looks that deserve to be talked about, these are some of the most notable ones in my opinion. Hopefully, you, readers, have found a new interest in fashion and the creativity of different designers.
The theme of the upcoming Met Gala which will be held on May 2, 2022 is In America: An Anthology of Fashion, a second part to the theme last year, In America: A Lexicon of Fashion. I’m excited to see what more courageous ideas will be brought to life at this important event.
References
Okwodu, J. (2019, 7 mei). Zendaya and Law Roach Just Had a Literal Cinderella Moment on the Met Gala Red Carpet. Vogue. Geraadpleegd op 1 april 2022, van
https://www.vogue.com/article/zendaya-law-roach-disney-princess-transformative-moment-met-gala-2019
Spellings, S., & Nguyen, A. (2021, 13 september). Met Gala 2021: What Is the Met Gala, Anyway? The Cut. Geraadpleegd op 1 april 2022, van
https://www.thecut.com/article/met-gala-2021-everything-to-know.html
Photos
Coppola, M. (2021, September 14). [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://media.glamour.com/photos/6140b4d31334980a19d19a89/1:1/w_2300,h_2300,c_limit/GettyImages-1340149038.jpg
Galella, R. (2021, September 13). [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://media.vanityfair.com/photos/59011ae6a9f28a122a3c2898/master/w_493,h_1440,c_limit/ss12-best-met-gala-looks-naomi-campbell.jpg
Getty Images. (2018, May 7). [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/hbz-met-gala-kate-bosworth-1-1525734533.jpg
Getty Images. (2019, April 19). [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://pagesix.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/04/gettyimages-2308638.jpg?quality=80&strip=all&w=1024
Getty Images. (2019). [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.ecranmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/GettyImages-1147433630.jpg
Getty Images. (2019, May 3). [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://media.vogue.co.uk/photos/5d544d6765deb50008c9c3c8/master/w_1280,h_1920,c_limit/original
Getty Images. (2021, September 13). [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://assets.vogue.com/photos/613fe7f4745ab6819bde0b36/master/w_2828,h_4242,c_limit/GettyImages-1340134129.jpg
Wargo, T. (2021, September 13). [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://fashionista.com/.image/t_share/MTgzODUyMTYwODA1NTEyNDQ4/rihanna-and-aap-rocky-attend-the-2021-met-gala-.jpg