A Declaration of American Fashion: The MET GALA 2021
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After the pandemic halted the annual MET GALA, “fashion’s biggest night” was held on Monday as a closing call to New York fashion week. The exclusive event hosted an homage to American fashion with political and patriotic themes weaved through the designs for the red carpet.
As the talk of the town, the MET was taking center stage before the red carpet rolled out. Hosted by A-list millennials, Amanda Gorman, Billie Eillish, Naomi Osaka, and Timothee Chalamet, this year’s MET mixed established fashion powerhouses with new design creatives.
The theme of this year's MET– American Independence – left slivers of ambiguity to interpret American fashion. Although centered around American couture, European fashion houses also created their interpretations of classic American fashion.
The theme also honored the new exhibition, In America: A Lexicon of Fashion. The star-studded event personified the declaration of American fashion with designs alluding to history, identity and Americana motifs.
Prevalent themes included heritage and patriotism with stars such as Lili Reinhart wearing flowers from all fifty states scattered through her dress, designed by Christian Siriano. Philipina-American rapper Saweetie donned a body hugging dress featuring the colors of the flags of her two nationalities by Christian Cowan. While Ciara wore a lime-green sequined dress with the number 3 in the middle. The dress was inspired by the prevalent American football culture and her husband Russel Wilson’s jersey.
Old Hollywood was a motif used to evoke the presence of past icons in fashion. Kendall Jenner wore an Audrey Hepburn inspired gown, by Givenchy, that required 2,500 hours of labor and over 30 beaders to complete. Billie Eillish slipped away from her casual grunge look by channeling Marylin Monroe in an Oscar de la Renta nude ball gown. Tackling body image allowed Billie to express herself in a new found way at the MET.
The use of identity outshone the typical red carpet looks by personalizing gowns to the stars of the night. Beauty guru, Nikki de Jager, wore an aqua tulle gown covered in blooming flowers inspired by Black Trans activist Marsha P Johnson. The beauty blogger, who came out as a trans woman, used Johnson’s famous phrase, “Pay it no mind,” at the base of her dress. The show stopper, Lil Nas X debuted three looks for his first MET. The ensemble incorporated a decorative regal robe, followed by a golden armor suit and a bedazzled bodysuit as his closing act. The shedding of each layer was a symbolic message to the deconstruction of barriers he faced and the acceptance of his identity.
You can’t have American fashion without an honorable mention of good ole American politics. Congresswomen, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez did just that. Her dress, by Aurora James, was designed as a simple elegant white gown, however the back portion featured red bold print stating, “Tax the Rich.” AOC wanted to take an institution, such as the MET, and extend a table to the public by opening up critical conversation and sending a bold message.
The gala produced lucid interpretations of the theme by focusing on isolated pieces of American fashion. With such a broad theme, a sense of direction was lost in an abyss of ambiguity thus the fashion ensembles were not as unified. Perhaps this individualism is the very nature of American Independence.
The second installment of the MET Gala is scheduled for it’s annual date in May 2022. The event is anticipated to ramp up to its full glamour through the theme, In America: An Anthology of Fashion.
Sandra Ocampo