Fashion is not just about the clothes that you wear or how you accessorize your look, it is way more than that. It is an individual statement, an aesthetic that tells a lot about who you are and what you represent! And, in the lieu of the same, Met Gala comes under the picture, a nickname for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala. Few days back, your social media might be throbbing with the pictures of the celebs in different looks and your friends might as well be tweeting about the same but if you are unknown to the concept of Met Gala. We have it covered for you.
What is the MET Gala?
The inception of MET dates back to 1946 and since then, it has become a grand affair. You can cite it as a ‘the Super Bowl of Fashion.’ For, It is not just limited to an opening night. In fact, it has a purpose as well. The Met is an annual production put on by the art museum to raise funds for its fashion collection, and raising the grandeur, there is a theme each year. The one other constant is the red carpet fashion. There is nothing quite like it, and it is vital and exciting to be a part of that.
The biggest celebrities from different spheres of career be it music, entertainment or fashion are invited to MET and the list changes every year. Other than a star studded night, what shines brighter than them is the theme they follow. Each year they are assigned a new theme. This year’s Met Gala had the theme ‘Camp’. The theme had no resemblance to its literal meaning but it was based on the American writer-filmmaker Susan Sontag’s essay ‘Notes on Camp’ from 1964, which begins by defining the term as “its love of the unnatural, of artifice and exaggeration.” Here the term is not in relation to beauty but with the degree of stylization, the degree of artifice that makes it much more special.
What was in store this year?
Keeping the theme in mind, celebrities showed up in their dramatic ensembles, putting forth their creativity at its best. Howbeit, given the wide ambit for interpretation, actors, musicians, Hollywood A-listers and more opted for fashion choices that ranged from the glorious to the bizarre. There were decapitated heads, walking chandeliers and of course, elaborate headgear, as each star offered their own interpretation of camp. However, it worked out for some as few of them were slaying with their looks whilst some couldn’t top the notch. From Priyanka Chopra and DeepikaPadukone to Lady Gaga and Sophie Turner, the stars seemed like they were enjoying their looks as this year’s theme allowed attendees to dial up the extravagance to the maximum.
Let’s talk celebrities and Twitter’s sense of humor
Hitherto, the MET is about fund raising, fashion, going to the extremes of following the theme but with appreciation, comes criticism as well. The Met Gala’s dramatic flair has also made it an annual opportunity for memes and jokes on social media. It’s a simple formula: the more outrageous an outfit, the more attention it gets on Twitter, which means lots of praise as well as lots of humour.
Priyanka Chopra, who joined the Met Gala Benefit Committee this year, is a Hollywood gala regular and marked her third year at the fashion extravaganza. Whilst at one end, Priyanka impressed the fashion police with her flamboyant Dior gown and dramatic make-up, On social media, the praise for Chopra was interspersed with some unflattering comparisons. Some surmised that her hairstyle was the consequence of taking Mumbai’s infamously crowded local trains, while others wondered if she was endorsing Centre Shock, the hair-raisingly sour chewing gum that was popular in the early 2000s.
Trollers having it their way for every look on the MET gala!
Actress Deepika Padukone too joined Priyanka on the pink carpet. She stayed true to the theme in a pink Barbie-like gown and retro hairdo. Deepika, has been attending the gala for three years now and has made arguably safer choices since she first attended the event in 2017. People on social media believe that she, too took a bolder route this year, with a dramatic pink gown by Zack Posen. Some social media users placed themselves firmly on Team Deepika and the unanimous opinion was that she looked like an Indian Barbie doll.
Most importantly, Lady Gaga’s award-winning strip show on the pink carpet of the gala became the greatest fodder for memes. And let’s not forget Katy Perry arriving dressed up as a chandelier and then later changing into a burger.
Met Gala attires every year have given us some of the best jokes, but this year’s attires at the Met Gala pink carpet are the top contenders for the best meme award.
Some played it safe yet got trolled, and others, well you’ve got to see Twitter going berserk. Want to see more MET 2019 looks? Find them here.