[Music: “Garden Party” by Ricky Nelson]
On May 6, hundreds of well-dressed guests went to a garden party to reminisce on times past. Stars at the Met Gala turned the red carpet into shades of green and brown last Monday, as they flaunted fashion creations in line with this year’s theme: The Garden of Time.
Named after a short story about a wealthy couple hiding away in luxury as an angry mob grows outside their walls, this year’s Met Gala theme originally came under fire for being politically insensitive. While protests were mostly averted, by the end of the night, the theme’s true crime became apparent: It was just plain boring.
Grace Jordan-Weinstein: This year was just quite disappointing and I don’t think it gave us much.
That was Medill first-year Grace Jordan-Weinstein, the styling director for STITCH, the premier Northwestern fashion magazine, and an avid Met Gala fan. Gabe Bernick, another Medill first-year and a member of the UNITY fashion show’s social media team, agreed. The theme revolved around common fashion motifs, he said, and didn’t require much creativity.
Gabe Bernick: You can do anything floral, anything related to nature, or you can do anything with time, so that’s not really something you need to understand.
Bernick was disappointed with the lack of effort many of the attendees showed, but one group in particular struck him as particularly boring.
Bernick: Almost everybody flopped. I’m just going to say, the men? The men do not show up.
Many of the men invited chose simple black or colored suits, often without even a flower or timepiece accessory. Even Met Gala host Chris Hemsworth disappointed — although very dapper in the light tan Tom Ford suit, the Marvel star’s outfit showed little creativity or cohesion to the theme.
While Jordan-Weinstein was no more impressed with the styling choices of the male attendees, she was not as uniquely focused in her distaste.
Jordan-Weinstein: Emma Mackey, Zoe Saldana and Sienna Miller always wear really cool outfits, but it was just very 2014 Free People. It was just very boho and not on theme.
Despite their distaste for the theme, both Bernick and Jordan-Weinstein conceded that part of the toned-down night may have come from those in attendance — or perhaps more aptly, those who were not.
Bernick: A lot of the people who went there in the past either weren’t there or didn’t show up, which is sad.
Jordan-Weinstein added,
Jordan-Weinstein: I was disappointed, I will say, that ASAP Rocky was not there, or Rihanna, and for multiple years they have been my favorite.
Rihanna was on the list of attendees, but canceled because of a last minute bug. Some fan-favorites of the past may have been missing, but stars like Lana Del Ray, Ariana Grande and Zendaya made their reappearance after years of being Met Gala M.I.A.
While the overall event may have been more muted, there were still some fashion stand-outs. Zendaya, one of the four hosts, stunned the carpet with two over-the-top outfits: a shimmery blue and green Margiela dress adorned with vines and fake birds and a trailing vintage Givenchy black gown with a towering flower headdress. Both Bernick and Jordan-Weinstein were impressed by Lana Del Rey’s outfit, a tan Alexander McQueen dress that draped over its own growing tree limbs.
Jordan-Weinstein: It’s kind of old, because cobwebs, and then there’s a flower, so the floral element. It also really referenced — there’s a Fall 2006 look by Alexander McQueen himself back when he was at the helm of the house, and I thought that was just a very good tie-in to the past, but also the literal garden theme.
Bernick also mentioned Tyla, the singer best known for the hit “Water,” who showed up in a custom Balmain skin-tight dress mimicking the appearance of wet sand in the shape of an hourglass.
Bernick: People were so committed to the idea of Garden of Time with flowers or formal patterns that people only went that way with it. But because sand is so obviously intrinsically linked to time, it was just a smart way to do it, especially because the dress looked — I don’t know if this is true — but I feel like it kind of looked like it was aging too.
For Bernick, the emphasis on time was an element missing from a lot of the outfits, and one that could have stepped up the creativity and depth of the styles.
Bernick: The idea that fabric naturally ages over time — there’s so much that could have been done with having rips or tears in fabrics that a lot of the celebrities didn’t do.
Fashion influencer Wisdom Kaye went this route in a vibrant red Robert Wun tailcoat and sun hat littered with burn and rot holes throughout. Supermodel Gigi Hadid’s stunning white custom Thom Brown gown, accented with yellow roses, featured a skirt designed to mirror a suit jacket falling off onto the ground — a look that took designers a whopping 13,500 hours to complete.
Even for those who took the more flower-forward approach, the designers could have taken it in more creative directions, Jordan-Weinstein said. She remembered a vintage Valentino line that displayed models in heavy, cone-like flower headpieces that echoed the maximalism of more popular Met Galas, like the 2019 Camp theme.
Jordan-Weinstein: I think there was a lot more room for over the top, crazy literal looks, and that just didn’t happen.
For Jordan-Weinstein, the over-the-top aspect of the Met Gala is what is so captivating. Instead of focusing on popular appeal, she prefers when designers push the limits of fashion.
Jordan-Weinstein: Even if I don’t like someone’s look and it’s very out there, I have respect, but the ones that were the least appealing were the most safe ones that could have been worn at any red carpet.
The predictability of this year’s outfits made the theme one of the worst for Jordan-Weinstein since the 2013 punk theme that got her hooked.
The biggest night in fashion may be over for the year, but the biggest day for Northwestern fashion is just around the corner. As you obsess over how to spin the perfect camp couture outfit for Dillo, pay attention to the lessons from this year’s Met Gala: In fashion, it’s always go big or go home.
For WNUR News, I’m Gabby Shell.
[Music out]
