It may not be the first Monday of May, but guess what? The Met Gala is back! After last year’s cancellations due to the pandemic, fashion’s biggest night of the year returns today as a smaller, more intimate affair to introduce, for the first time, a two-part exhibit under the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. Ahead, we detail everything you need to know about the upcoming event, from the theme to co-chairs and how to watch—scroll to the end for all the best over-the-top looks:
View this post on Instagram
What is the Met Gala?
AKA “the party of the year”, the Met Gala, or Met ball, is an annual gala night to celebrate and raise funds at a new exhibit by the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art’s Costume Institute. Since its establishment in 1984 by fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert––who also established New York Fashion Week––the evening has become one of the most talked-about events of the year, with the world’s biggest stars and industry players attending in their finest attire. Corresponding to the exhibition on display, a theme is also set each year for everyone to dress up to.
READ: The Met Gala: A visual history of the many, memorable themes
What is this year’s theme?
Fresh off the physical revival of New York Fashion Week, this year’s theme for the Met Gala is all about American fashion. In an interview with Vogue, head curator Andrew Bolton said that it was time to reexamine American identity and fashion, especially within recent contexts of changing social and political climates, and conversations around issues of equity, diversity and inclusivity. “I think that emphasis on conscious creativity was really consolidated during the pandemic and the social justice movements,” he said. “And I’ve been really impressed by American designers’ responses to the social and political climate, particularly around issues of body inclusivity and gender fluidity, and I’m just finding their work very, very self-reflective. I really do believe that American fashion is undergoing a Renaissance.”
This year’s Met Gala will coincide with part one of the exhibition, titled ‘In America: A Lexicon of Fashion’, which is opening on September 18 at the Anna Wintour Costume Centre at the Met in celebration of the Costume Institute’s 75th anniversary; while part two, ‘An Anthology of Fashion’ will debut on May 5, 2022 alongside the Met Gala 2022 just three days before.
View this post on Instagram
The exhibit for ‘In America: A Lexicon of Fashion’ will feature pieces from American designers like Christopher John Rogers, Prabal Gurung and Sterling Ruby; and organised to establish “a new vocabulary that’s more relevant and more reflective of the times we’re living in,” Bolton said. Part two, on the other hand, will be held in the period rooms of the museum’s American wing and will debut a more cinematic experience in collaboration with American film directors to depict the history of the country’s fashion. Both exhibitions will run through September 2022.
Below, click through to see some of the runway looks, from big names and emerging designers, that will be on display at ‘In America: A Lexicon of Fashion’:
Who is this year’s co-chairs?
Timothée Chalamet, Billie Eilish, Amanda Gorman, and Naomi Osaka will co-chair the affair, while Tom Ford, Instagram’s Adam Mosseri, and Anna Wintour will serve as the honorary chairs.
Is there a formal dress code?
Yes! The official dress code is American Independence. While we can expect this to be expressed in more ways than one by American designers, there are always a few celebrities who show up off-theme. Whatever we’ll see, it’s bound to be unexpected.
not a day goes by that i don’t think about the iconic zac posen light-up gown claire danes wore to the 2016 met gala pic.twitter.com/cP9qQSUB9U
— (@yslprincesse) September 11, 2021
Who’s invited this year?
A few weeks ago, a fake Met Gala seating chart went viral on the internet for its inclusion of several TikTok influencers, but all things considered, it wouldn’t be too farfetched to say that some of these new online personalities could be in attendance for 2021. Designers typically invite the buzziest names of the moment, and over on Twitterland, rumours are flying that Blackpink’s Rosé is set to take the red c
| SHARE THE STORY | |
| Explore More |
