Did anyone dress offensively?
The big question hanging over the Met Ball’s red carpet ahead of the event was: how much guests would embrace this year’s Chinese theme and who would cross the line into offensive sartorial stereotype dressing. Each year, the Costume Institute Gala has a focus, and sometimes a dress code, based around the exhibition. This year there were no rules and red carpet watchers braced themselves for a car crash of cultural appropriation. In the main this didn’t happen. “China: through the looking glass” inspired twists on Chinese dressing – designer cheongsam, headgear and gowns in auspicious yellow all made an appearance. Sarah Jessica Parker’s headpiece by Philip Treacy was arguably too close to the stereotyping bone. Her flaming-red number was more dragon costume than chic, despite the actor having form for extravagant headdress on the red carpet. SJP claimed that the real story was her dress which she helped design with the H&M Conscious collection (not buying that, sorry). The internet disagreed, and christened the headdress a homage to Heat Miser. Meanwhile what Rihanna’s dress lacked in taste in one sense, the “cheese omelette” gown made up for it in another. Designed by Chinese couturier Guo Pei, it showed how support for Chinese designers is way more powerful than literal dressing.
But who did the theme well?
Anne Hathaway was careful. Her liquid-gold hoodie gown was designed by Ralph Lauren, whose collection had been inspired by a Chinese artist. Meanwhile, designer Michael Kors dubbed his dress for Kate Hudson as “Traditional Asian with a Californian twist”, which sounds like fusion cuisine at its most expensive. But the winners included Georgia May Jagger, whose lilac Gucci embroidered dress made her look louche, modern, traditional and hot, and Grace Coddington, who proved that there is nothing more chic and confident than a woman in a pair of pyjamas.
How fashion was it?
Capital F, obviously. The Met Ball is tiresomely dubbed “the Oscars of fashion”, but it is true; guests here have licence to put pushing the style envelope ahead of the studio paycheck. Witness Alexa Chung looking divine in Erdem and showcasing a pair of haute sideburns, which will have appealed much more to a Wintour crowd than a Weinstein one. FKA twigs meanwhile wore one of Christopher Kane’s lace lovers dresses, which is this season’s get-it-or-go-home challenge. Special mention for Solange Knowles’s Giles Deacon Star-Wars-meets-moules-marinière dress.
Who missed the memo?
Amal Clooney, Dakota Johnson, Reese Witherspoon, Carey Mulligan, Uma Thurman, Hailee Steinfeld … basically if you weren’t prepared to wear a Chinese designer, engage with the theme or go Fashion (see above), then you shouldn’t have been granted a $25,000 ticket. Risk-averse dressing is not an option at the Met Ball.
Is half-arsed the new side-boob?
If you thought the red carpet had exhausted its roll call of the body parts it is fashionable to flaunt, then you were woefully wrong. Right now the bottom – or some of it – is where it’s at. We’re calling it the half-arsed look – half-arsed also because it doesn’t really cut it in style terms. Jennifer Lopez’s Versace number flashed the side of her rear, while Beyoncé flashed her upper bum. The main objection to the latter being not the risque factor but the Girl’s World ponytail which made her head look like a spinning top at rest.
Are Bey and Jay morphing into Kimye?
The gauzy dress, the over-the-shoulder pose, the spill of a back hem and the dinner-jacketed date. It’s all getting rather repeat play for our liking. Because for all their beauty and sparkle, both women are starting to look forgettable. Kim claimed her inspiration was not Beyoncé at the Met Ball in 2012 but Cher at the first Met Ball in 1971, and everyone knows that you try to out-Cher Cher at your peril.
