Met Gala: 7 of the Best Looks Over the Decades

[ad_1]

The event that hosted some of the most iconic haute couture looks turns 75 years old. GETTY IMAGES via BBC From “midnight dinner parties” to today’s glamorous extravaganza, the event has come a long way. The Met Gala completes 75 years and it is worth remembering some of its magical moments. “The first Monday in May” became known as the night the fashion industry lets its “hair down.” There are acrobatics, huge dresses and selfies that are seen by millions of people across the planet. But it began more humbly. Eleanor Lambert, the publicist and “godmother of fashion,” launched the Met Gala 75 years ago, in 1948, as a fundraiser for the new Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, John Tiffany, her former apprentice and biographer, he told BBC Culture. More broadly, he adds, it was a way to “raise the profile of American fashion.” The $50 tickets were sold to members of New York high society. Even then, though, it was a chance to have some fun. “During the war, New Yorkers had to darken their windows and keep the lights off, so for the original Met Gala in 1948, Lambert created a ‘Midnight Dinner’ to vent.” It has gone through many twists and turns since then. “From 1948 through the 1970s, the goal was to look impeccable, adopting your own style while celebrating American fashion on the historic steps of the Met,” says Tiffany. It was under the management of American fashion editor Diana Vreeland in the 1970s that the event became more elaborate, with spicy themes being introduced and the guest list extending to cultural figures such as Andy Warhol, as well as figures from the society like Jackie Kennedy. But it was in 1995 that the biggest change in its history arrived: this was the year that Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour took over. While many things about the Met Gala today have changed significantly, it’s still an event that’s all about raising money. “The Met Gala is likely to be the crowning achievement of Anna Wintour’s career,” Amy Odell, fashion journalist and bestselling author of Anna: The Biography, told BBC Culture. “It has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for the museum’s Costume Institute, because Anna has managed to increase the ticket price from several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars since she started planning it.” This year’s tickets are selling for $50,000. The night is as much about what’s seen as what’s not, because while the front steps house a sea of ​​cameras, the festivities inside are done in secret. “Part of the event’s elitism is its mystique,” says Odell. “What separates those who are invited from everyone else? What actually happens inside the party? These questions keep the public interested in the event, so any shred of information we get about it becomes news, fueling further intrigue.” Wintour’s Met Gala is a haute couture spectacle. It’s a barometer for our times – and a chance to see what big money, creativity and confidence can do. For some, it will always be unabashedly extravagant, for others, that’s where its brilliance lies. Here, let’s take a look at some of the most iconic Met Gala moments over the years: Cher in Bob Mackie’s ‘Nude Dress’ 1974: Hollywood’s Romantic, Glamorous Design “Cher and Bob Mackie broke all the rules that night and showed how glamorous Hollywood was at that very moment,” says Tiffany. “It might not have worked for anyone else, but Cher had confidence and Bob Mackie understood exactly how far he could go.” That may have been nearly 50 years ago, but the nude dress trend has existed from that moment on. Diana Ross1981: The Woman of the 18th Century Like a millefeuille made of feathers, the Supremes singer’s outfit is one of the most eye-catching outfits from previous, more understated gala years. “Diana Ross showed a transition in style from an ’18th century woman’ to Miss Ross that night,” says Tiffany. She even wore the dress again many years later at the 2012 American Music Awards. Rihanna in Guo Pei’s ‘Omelette Dress’ 2015: China Through the Looking Glass For Chinese designer Guo Pei, who has been designing haute couture for over 30 years at Back when Rihanna wore this gem yellow dress, having her work dubbed the “omelette dress” and becoming a meme was an unexpected way to become famous. The cover took more than 50,000 hours to hand embroider and weighed 25 kg. Even though it was a difficult moment for Guo, it was a moment that Wintour, according to Odell, really loved: “She loves the over-the-top looks.” Lena Waithe with the LGBTQ+ flag The theme was Catholicism, and producer, writer and actress Lena Waithe wore a cover featuring the flag with black and brown stripes added to draw attention to concerns affecting LGBTQ+ people of color. “I’m representing my community and I want everyone to know that you can be who you are and be proud and do it,” she told Vogue on the night. Underneath, she wore a Carolina Herrera tuxedo. It was, notes Tiffany, “a sophisticated but very chic look, combined with its powerful message. It made a big impact.” Also of note on this night was Rihanna, who dressed like the pope. Billy Porter’s 2019 Big Entry: Camp “The Theme Was Camp [que na moda, significa uma estética exagerada], and Billy clearly got the message,” says Tiffany, of the Pose star’s arrival on the red carpet as a winged Egyptian pharaoh. Carried by servants shirtless and decked in gold, he was placed on the ground and spread golden wings. Like Porter told Variety magazine: “Camp stands for irreverence. Camp means extremely over-the-top and grandiose and what some might feel is ridiculous and silly, and embracing all those creative impulses within us that often get repressed.” This was also the year that Lady Gaga wore four Brandon Maxwell looks on the carpet red, bringing Wintour out of the museum entrance, where she greets guests, to watch – the first time, according to Odell, that she has watched a red carpet entrance in person. It was also the year that Jared Leto brought a replica of her own head for the event. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s ‘tax the rich’ dress2021: In America, a lexicon of fashion Seen as hypocritical or with much-needed radicalism, when the New York congresswoman wore a white gown by black designer Aurora James, emblazoned with the phrase “tax the rich” in red, certainly got the talk. As Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Instagram at the time: “The medium is the message…Now is the time for kids, health and of climate action for all. Tax the rich.” But while the white wool slogan gown went on to be Google’s most Googled Met Gala look, the gown worn by Kim Kardashian also deserves special mention. A collaboration between Balenciaga’s Demna Gvasalia and ex -Kardashian husband, Kanye West, it was a bold look that saw the woman with one of the most recognizable faces – and bodies – in the world, covered from head to toe. As the design duo well knew, the Met is the place to do it Blake Lively2022’s Metamorphosing Dress: Golden Glamor Theme asked attendees to draw inspiration from New York’s “golden years”, which spanned roughly from the 1870s to the early 20th century, and saw a boom in wealth as a result Impossible to ignore, actress Blake Lively, best known for her Gossip Girl series, wore a Versace dress that was an ode to New York City at the time, changing color from turquoise to copper midway through the red carpet in a transformation that intended to represent the oxidation of the Statue of Liberty. The dress was influenced more by architecture than fashion, with references to other giants of the city’s skyline, such as the Empire State Building, as well as the starry ceiling of Grand Central Station. It was a look suited to New York City’s most glamorous event.

[ad_2]

Source link