Fashion is one of the strongest mediums to express the wonders of creativity and art. It illustrates culture, history, unique values and beliefs… One of the biggest events that showcases such dynamics is the Met Gala, the annual fundraising event for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York City.
The Met Gala is considered as the Superbowl of the fashion industry. Every year the exhibition celebrates a unique theme. The most prominent ones in recent years have been Charles James: Beyond Fashion, Punk—when Chaos meets Couture, China—through the looking Glass and Fashion in the age of Technology. This year the Met gala was held on May 1st and the theme celebrated the work of Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo. She is the second designer to be given her own solo show at the Met Gala (Yves Saint Laurent was the first). Her works are often considered as “really weird” that garnered lots of skepticism and raised eyebrows during fashion shows, but they challenge the conventional boundaries of fashion and introduces it to the world in an unprecedented way.
via dezeen
Fashion might be regarded as frivolous and deemed as a luxury that the industry traps you with, but it is definitely more than what meets the eye. The fact that this unique star-studded event is held at New York’s most famous art museum indicates that fashion IS celebrated as a form of art. Fashion designers get the chance to harness their creativity and highlight it to the rest of the world.
I am not ashamed to say that I drool over red carpet dresses and fawn over marvelous designs that the celebrities wear. It is simply fascinating to see the artistic and innovative works that fashion designers are able to conjure up from their minds. Even more captivating to me are the detailed descriptions of the red carpet outfits written by fashion journalists. Their words bring the visual aesthetics to life, more detailed and profound than merely looking at the pictures. The description of the colors, fabrics, patterns, textures tugs at me, inspiring me to learn the fashion vocabulary and how to write in that particular way.
Below are some of Met Gala’s greatest red carpet looks:
Rooney Mara at 2013 Met Gala in a lace white dress with structured shoulders, high slit, and zippered detailings, via Timestyle
Blake Lively at Met 2014 in a glittery rose-gold sequined gown with glamourous, tousled curls, via Daily Mail
Rihanna at the 2015 Met Gala in a long, majestic imperial yellow robe with fur-trims and intricate embroidery, via Bustle
Emma Watson at 2016 Met Gala in a recyclable Calvin Klein dress made from plastic bottles, via Vogue
Rihanna at 2017 Met Gala in Rei Kawakubo’s design full of architectural wonder, via People