It's not fashion, it's faaarshion, darling

 

In a sign that things are slowly returning to normal, the Met Gala happened this week. It is traditionally held on the first Monday in May but pandemics don’t give a toss for traditions.

As explained previously, the Met Gala red carpet is theme-based, so things can and do get weird. It's more about faarshion, rather than style and elegance. This year’s theme is “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion”.

If you were planning on going to the Met Gala and wondered how to dress to this theme, the easiest thing would be to wear something by an American designer:  Ralph Lauren, Tom Ford, Vera Wang etc. You might also look to the cultural impact of the American film industry and how that has influenced fashions. So how many people were on theme?  Well, to be frank, I think many just wanted to get glam for the first big post-COVID party. There was a lot of Valentino, Givenchy, YSL and Gucci (Serena Williams wore Gucci but there was a hint of American Liberace so…)

And then Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (aka AOC) made a big statement with her dress. Some people thought it was hypocritical of her to wear a dress emblazoned with "Tax the Rich" to a gala where a ticket costs $35,000. But I say, no, it is the best place to wear a dress with this message. Now the rich people can’t say they weren’t warned.

What else? A lot of blokes wore frocks this year. 

But it was rapper Lil Nas X who made an ENTRANCE. Considering his outfits took in a few themes from recent years (namely Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination (2018), Manus ex Machina (2016), Manus ex Machina (2016), I suspect Lil Nas X has wanted to go to the ball for a very long time so he decided to wear them all at once.

There were those who went for drop-dead glamour with a few nods to old Hollywood. Billie Eilish channelled Marilyn and Emily Blunt looking like Hedy Lamarr.

Billie Eilish in Oscar de la Renta, Emily Blunt in Miu Miu

Then there were the guests who just wanted to put on something fab and look a million bucks.

Anuk Yai in Oscar De La Renta (a nod to Josephine Baker, Gigi Hadid in Prada, Sienna Miller in Gucci

Eiza Gonzalez in Atelier Versace, Chloe Fineman in Tory Burch, Yara Shahidi in Dior

Interpreting "America" in fashion takes many forms. Some went literal, like Ciara (Sequinned American Football uniform) and Deborah Harry in red, white and blue (and still looking counter-culture-ish - Madonna, take note).

Ciara (by Dundas - she married to a footballer and that's his number jersey)
and Deborah Harry (custom-made by Zac Posen)

Others looked to the wild west, with either a cowboy-ish look. Kasey Musgrave is actually a country singer so it makes sense.

JLo in custom Ralph Lauren and Kasey Musgrave, also in Ralph Lauren

And Lorde went with a Native American vibe (the outfit itself is fine but I really hope those shoes do not go on to be fashionable). I think that might have been partially the inspiration for Iman as well but mainly she had outfit that made people wonder how she got in the car.

I’m including Regina King and Lupita Nyong’o because they are two of the best-dressed women ever. That said, Regina King’s outfit was a bit subdued but the pin-stripes did, I guess, nod to banking and commerce, which is very American.  Lupita Nyong’o seemed one of the only people who went with American denim.

Lupita Nyong'o in Versace, Regina King in Michael Kors

Many people who don’t know much at all thought Kendall Jenner (in Givenchy and who did look lovely) was paying homage to Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady. I can see where they are coming from but the costumes for My Fair Lady were designed by Brit Cecil Beaton. Audrey Hepburn was Dutch (Givenchy was her favourite designer). The American link can only be that it's a musical. The dress was reminiscent of the black, see-through dress Cher wore when she won her Oscar, but in ivory.

This brings me to my next point. Based on many of the skimpy, figure-hugging, see-through dresses, the biggest influence in American fashion seems to be Cher. Who knew? The women below weren't the only ones dressing like Cher.

Megan Fox (also with Betty Page-esque fringe) and Valentina Sampais...

...Lourdes Leon, Zoe Kravitz, Zooey Deutsch and Winnie Harlow all dressing like Cher

German singer Kim Petras dressed as a horse

And there was some weird shit, too.

This is Kim Kardashian. She’s wearing Balenciaga (no not an American designer).

I thought she might have been trying some sort of arty, meta statement about celebrity (and coming from a professional celebrity would have made it ironic, as well as arty and meta). I mean if she didn’t want to be seen, she could have just stayed at home…Turns out though she wasn’t making statements about celebrity (she's not stupid); she thought nothing was more American than wearing a t-shirt all over herself. Okay.

Oh, and a lot of blokes there wore frocks. Timothee Chalamet wore Converse All Stars. ASAP Rockie wore a doona over his tux. 

So that's America as interpreted in fashion.  You're welcome.