The Met Gala is one of the most prestigious fashion events of the year. The event took place on Monday, May 6th. Celebrities ranging from actors and actresses to musicians to athletes, the Met Gala is an event that creates a global spectacle to judge and analyze gowns and tuxes, deciding whether they fit the theme or not. The theme this year is based on a book called Garden of Time by J.G. Ballard, and is supposed to work with the spring exhibit of the Costume Institute, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion”. Obviously, this gives a lot of wiggle room for celebrities to comply with the theme, but surprisingly I was kind of disappointed with the fashion.
I noticed how a lot of celebrities, mainly the Kardashian and Jenner family, stick to what they know and do not go along with the theme, making their outfits boring. Some celebrities that I thought nailed the theme, which wasn’t that many, were Zendaya, Elle Fanning, Berry Keoghan, and Gigi Hadid. Zendaya had not one, but two outfits to shock the red carpet with and both were phenomenal. The first gown shown on Zendaya was this interesting and gorgeous blue and black gown with accents of weeds and greenery all around the dress. I really loved this look on her and thought it went incredibly well with the theme of the book Garden of Time. Her second look, while gorgeous, wasn’t entirely on theme with her gown necessarily but the headpiece she fashions was more on point. Zendaya’s second gown was a beautiful black gown but was rather plain compared to her first look on the carpet. Her headpiece was definitely more on theme, with red, pink, and orange flowers caged on top of her head to get the “garden” theme.
Along with Zendaya’s look, Elle Fanning rocked an amazing look on the carpet, dazzling the crowd with an “ice statue” inspired dress. The dress had a glowy blue hue added to the white gown, with additions of “glass-like” birds extended from her shoulders. While I wouldn’t necessarily her gown goes on theme with the book, I do think it goes on theme with the Costume Institution, “Sleeping Beauties: Fashion Reawakening”. The actress wanted to represent the concept of ephemerality, which means only existing for a short amount of time. I really liked this twist within the theme and her gown is a good example of showing creativity and thinking outside the box, which is a concept many celebrities on the carpet were unable to achieve.
Berry Keoghan’s look went more in the direction of old and classic fashion, rather than fashioning the classic black tux that men are often seen on the red carpet with. Keoghan wore a brown 1800’s style suit with a black top hat and black boots. His outfit was an interesting interpretation of the Met Gala theme and definitely, similar to Fanning’s outfit, represented the Costume Institute’s theme more than the book. I really enjoyed his look and thought it was unique and fashionable. Unlike Keoghan, a lot of male celebrities are typically shown wearing the same thing every single year so it was a nice refresher for a male celebrity to be actually wearing something on the theme and not the boring black tux.
Lastly, another celebrity who I think nailed the theme is Gigi Hadid. Her look was absolutely stunning. Her dress was a white off-the-shoulder corset gown with flower embellishments on the front of the corset. The dress continued to shock the carpet, with many layers added to the dress, making the dress look long and full. The flowers on her dress didn’t overtake the gown, unlike a lot of gowns on the carpet, but accented it quite nicely. Her dress really did the book theme justice and I really enjoyed her look and thought it was amazing.
While many celebrities did hit the mark on the theme, many did not. Along with my statement earlier, the Kardashian and Jenner family really did not understand the theme and unfortunately for past years, it really seems that they never understood the theme. Kim Kardashian styled a rather boring, shimmering silver dress, with an added grey sweater on the top. I wasn’t too shocked that Kardashian decided to sport this look, since it is a very on-brand dress for the influencer, but it still took me by surprise with how off-theme it was. There was nothing about her dress that spoke “garden” or anything in regard to the theme. I think that Kardashian sticks to what she knows and what she is familiar with, rather than going out of her comfort zone. The dress overall wasn’t bad, it just was not on theme.
Kylie Jenner also did not hit the mark with the theme, sporting a basic white-cream gown that flowed out to a floor-length gown. Jenner did attempt the theme by adding a flower to her hair. The gown had no substance or originality and did not spark my attention in the slightest. The flower in her hair I felt was a lazy attempt at the garden theme and made the look more boring and didn’t add anything to the look.
Another look from a celebrity that I did not particularly enjoy was Lea Michele’s outfit. Her outfit was a teal-colored dress with white flowers added to the dress, with the addition of a frilly teal-colored boa. I thought the look of this dress was very basic and cheap. Specifically the dress itself looked cheap and the color wasn’t the most appealing. The flowers once again, similar to Jenner’s outfit, felt like a lazy attempt to fit the theme when it still didn’t fit. I didn’t like the look of the gown, it didn’t fit the theme, and overall it was not a good outfit for the Met Gala.
Overall, I thought the concept of this year’s Met Gala was mediocre at best. Only a couple of looks stood out to me and I felt everyone else incorporated some sort of flowers to their gown to make it on theme, when clearly it was just a bad attempt at the theme. The few celebrities that I mentioned who did incredible looked at the theme with new eyes and were able to craft a perfect outfit on theme.
