The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute benefit in New York, also known as The Met Gala, also known as “The Oscars Of East Coast” opened today. The last Met Gala, held in 2019 under the theme of “Camp: Notes on Fashion”, was an extravagant display of texture, sweep, style, and sex. Who can forget Kim Kardashian wearing a skin-tone custom Thierry Mugler covered in white crystals that resembled water droplets, making her look like she just emerged from the Pacific Ocean on the West Coast, wet hair and everything?
Still obsessing over my Met Gala glam!! shop my look https://t.co/aIjp1MBlpZ✨ Major shout out to @makeupbymario & @chrisappleton1 for the magic! pic.twitter.com/AJmBHyhGVa
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) May 9, 2019
While the Met Gala is usually held on the first Monday in May, the pandemic shifted things around and here we are, in September. It is a downscaled event. New York Times Fashion director Vanessa Friedman noted, “[T]he guest list is about a third smaller than usual — and it’s very youth-focused.”
Also Read: 13 Of The Most Outrageous Looks From The History Of The Met Gala
This year’s theme is “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion”, and while perhaps we expected the same audaciousness of the 2019 Met, this year’s contenders were more muted. The extravagance, like Lil Nas X’s stripping down to reveal three different outfits, had a been-there-seen-that vibe from Lady Gaga’s own mini-performance on the red carpet in 2019.
Lil Nas X reveals a THIRD outfit on the #MetGala red carpet! https://t.co/vaX97iQM2B pic.twitter.com/WKUrkgNjEB
— Variety (@Variety) September 13, 2021
Even the dame of the Met Gala, Rihanna, who per usual arrived late, wearing charcoal black Balenciaga, had a very, well, classic look, elevated by that beanie.
Rihanna wearing Balenciaga to the #MetGala pic.twitter.com/YqDOxUEIlS
— IAMFASHION (@IAMFASHlON) September 14, 2021
Then there was KimK herself, who came completely masked. This would have felt more novel had she not done the very same look in black leather with Demna Gvasalia two days ago.
Ok, wait, Kim Kardashian is here #MetGala. Really. Maybe? We think it's her? pic.twitter.com/oeEonbiOpy
— Vanessa Friedman (@VVFriedman) September 14, 2021
But there were also moments of stunning craft, bizarre staging, and outsized sweep. Here are some of our favourite moments from the Met Gala red carpet
Hunter Shafer from Euphoria fame wore an archive Prada, with a spider face and white lenses.
hunter schafer’s #metgala look pic.twitter.com/jzlXLSQAya
— 𓂀 (@girIsonfiIm) September 13, 2021
Tracee Ellis Ross in blue Balenciaga was all the texture we asked for.
Tracee Ellis Ross in Balenciaga couture #MetGala. She's playing the blues. pic.twitter.com/BOniSL2zjw
— Vanessa Friedman (@VVFriedman) September 13, 2021
Billie Eilish, the 19-year old music phenomenon, and co-host of the Met Gala only agreed to wear her peach Oscar de la Renta if the company ended all their fur sales. Her sweeping look, an homage to Marilyn Monroe was so dreamy and airy, perched on the stairs.
.@BillieEilish's @OscardelaRenta #MetGala gown is an ode to Marilyn Monroe https://t.co/93TfkwdQe9 pic.twitter.com/3z272E24Hd
— Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) September 13, 2021
The always fashion-dependable Dan Levy came prepped in custom LOEWE, looking like “what a gay superhero might wear”. Including artwork by the artist and LGBTQ activist David Wojnarowicz (1954-1992), his look “reappropriates a homophobic cartoon to instead celebrate same-sex love”
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Of course since the theme was America, the cowboy and horsegirl representation was inevitable and thriving on the carpet.
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The Dogs Of Met Gala had their spotlight
i present to you, the Met dogs #MetGala pic.twitter.com/PQ1r61L8jV
— Vanessa🦋🤎 (@Vane_delRocio) September 14, 2021
Timothée Chalamet in a satin Haider Ackermann tuxedo, with sweatpants and Converse all star was the precise mood of America — half in half out, half athleisure, half diamond glitter.
#MetGala co-chair @RealChalamet hits the red carpet pic.twitter.com/zILL8tb2dl
— GQ Magazine (@GQMagazine) September 13, 2021
When we asked for sweep, Normani’s Valentino silk taffeta mustard-yellow gown was exactly what we had in mind! Completely helped by Carrie Mulligan’s bright pink Valentino haute couture as the perfect colour blocking contrast.
.@Normani wears @MaisonValentino to the 2021 #MetGala red carpet https://t.co/24GWpXDqYL pic.twitter.com/S2OalnPZYt
— Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) September 14, 2021
Though we were starved of the usual bizarre-quotient Iman, in Harris Reed with a halo-like headpiece and an overskirt, both in feathers, was a lewk.
Iman in Harris Reed at the 2021 #MetGala themed ‘In America: A Lexicon of Fashion’. – I pic.twitter.com/FU1U5AprTO
— IMONATION (@THEIMONATION) September 13, 2021
Then there was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a Brother Vellies gown that got everyone on Twitter ranting or raving. A social message to tax the rich at a dinner with the richest of the rich? Radical or rabble-rousing? Both?
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attending the $35,000-a-ticket #MetGala in a Brother Vellies gown blaring "Tax the Rich" is a complicated proposition. pic.twitter.com/prxOojWxwx
— Vanessa Friedman (@VVFriedman) September 14, 2021