Tonight will be Superfine
We hope?
Today is the first Monday in May — the day of the infamous Met Gala.
Once upon a time, in the 80s & 90s, this event was not a social circus. It was instead a dinner held in support of then Diana Vreeland’s work in her role as “Special Consultant” to the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In its earliest incarnation, it was “an intimate fundraising event for the local fashion industry and New York’s old-guard elite.”
Jackie Kennedy Onassis would join, popping just a few blocks south from her apartment on Fifth Avenue.
Models like Iman and Naomi Campbell made a splash.
And Princess Diana came, saw, and conquered. Blowing everyone away, in a strikingly simple black & navy slip of a Dior design by John Galliano (this gown traveled the world as part of the larger “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams” exhibit, which I was fortunate to see in 2021 at the Brooklyn Museum).
Photo credit: Ron Galella/Vanity Fair, Jackie Kennedy Onassis in 1979, in Valentino at “Diaghilev: Costumes and Designs of the Ballets Russes.”
Photo credit: Rose Hartman/Vanity Fair. Iman in 1981, wearing Calvin Klein at “The Eighteenth-Century Woman”.
Photo credit: Ron Gallella/Vanity Fair. Naomi Campbell in Versace at “Haute Couture.”
Photo credit: Patrick McMullen/Vanity Fair. Princess Diana in 1996 wearing Dior, at “Christian Dior”
That was then, and this is now. Things really changed when Vogue’s Editor in Chief Anna Wintour took over, and what was once a quietly stylish event has turned into a commercial spectacle.
Per Tom Ford in
’s Anna: The Biography, “The only thing about the Met (Gala) that I wish hadn’t happened is that it’s turned into a costume party…that just used to be very chic people wearing very beautiful clothes…”Now it’s about making statements, however garish and over-the-top. The Gala has become a barometer of the state of society and culture. Picture Elon Musk and Grimes’s debut in 2018. Also AOC and Lena Waithe.
It’s about who’s in, who’s out, whose power is rising on the world stage- and there is an incredible hypocrisy about it, if we’re being honest.
From
’s Anna: The Biography: Amal and George Clooney, one year, for example “requested and were given a private bar so they could have a drink away from the other (lesser?) A-list celebrities; the museum also had its bookstore outfitted with upscale rental furniture for Amal, so she had a private place to change clothes.During the gala, the museum is dotted with such green rooms for various stars, like Sarah Jessica Parker and Anna and her daughter, Bee, to touch up hair and makeup.
For the biggest stars, the Met has spent more than $100,000 on a private jet to bring them to the party, as it did one year for Beyoncé and Jay-Z.”
Photo credit: Venturelli/Vanity Fair Emma Watson in 2016 in Calvin Klein at “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology”.
Photo credit: Theo Wargo/Vanity Fair. Alicia Keys in 2021, in custom AZ Factory at “In America.”
Photo credit: Getty Images/British Vogue, Lady Gaga in 2019 in Brandon Maxwell at “Camp: Notes on Fashion”.
Tables this year are thought to cost $350,000, and one must be invited to purchase. The Met Gala provides the Costume Exhibit with its primary source of funding for exhibitions, publications, acquisitions, operations, and capital improvements.
Anna oversees the guest list, and every attendee’s individual look.
The Met Gala’s theme this year is Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, exploring the artistry and creativity of Black dandyism, which first emerged in 18th century Enlightenment England.
What exactly is Black Dandyism? Per Vogue, “At its core, it’s a fashion revolution, a movement steeped in history, resistance, and pride. But its impact stretches far beyond the sartorial. It’s a cultural statement, an act of protest, and above all, an enduring celebration of individuality.”
The dress code is “tailored for you,” which pays tribute to the exhibition’s focus on menswear — and creative interpretation of it is “encouraged”.
And this year’s installation is physically organized into 12 sections which celebrate twelve characteristics of Black dandyism which include, among others, ownership, presence, distinction, freedom, champion, respectability, and heritage.
The exhibition will be available for viewing May 10-Oct 26 and is spearheaded by Met curator-in-charge Andrew Bolton, and guest curator Monica Miller, a Professor and Chair of Africana Studies at Barnard College, Columbia University. The event’s host committee includes Edward Enninful, Oliver Rousteing, and Dapper Dan.
Dapper Dan personifies dandyism; which comprises fashion, grace, advocacy, inclusion, and is the embodiment of refinement.
So we await visuals from tonight. Of the guest arrivals on the front steps, and sneak peaks from inside.
The event’s surrounding swirl will be live streamed on Vogue.com, and also here.
Tomorrow, when tonight’s Gala is in the books, the spotlight will shift to the exhibit itself and what it is meant to signify.
In this horrific moment of non-stop GOP Republican racist acts- and the stains on the souls of each American who supports them- I pray that the Met’s new exhibit is not received/perceived as cultural tokenism.
I hope the exhibit indeed has its finger on the pulse and instead signifies an actual coming revolution. One which celebrates, inspires, and demands human decency, societal inclusion, and of course great style.
Because fashion is foreign relations, elegance is advocacy, grace is geopolitics, inclusion is always impeccable, and refinement is resistance.