Lauren Sánchez Bezos, with her blown-out lip filler, understands fashion. She understands that, unlike the gatekeepers of painting and literature, fashion figureheads aren’t ashamed to dirty their hands by digging around in the money pot. It was only fitting, then, that Lauren and her husband Jeff Bezos sponsored this year’s Met Gala. Its theme was Fashion Is Art.
All Kardashian-Jenners present came in bodices protruding in the shape of their nipples
Sánchez Bezos showed up to the Met red carpet in a navy-blue gown that nodded to John Singer Sargent’s painting of Madame X, a socialite and the wife of a French banker. The painting’s portrayal of a pale, corpse-like, high-society woman was considered indecent because of the single strap falling off her shoulder. Sánchez Bezos’s look featured the strap, designed to fall off her one shoulder, and the same extremely nipped waist, but her skin was tanned.
The dress was a knowing nod to the controversy around her involvement in the Met Gala. Like Madame X, Sánchez Bezos is accused of being indecent, though for other reasons. Outside the Met, people protested over working conditions at Amazon and left vials of urine emblazoned with Jeff Bezos’s face and the words “Boycott the Bezos Met Gala.”
Attendees were asked to wear outfits which highlighted the intersection of fashion, the body, and art. Gracie Abrams wore a golden Chanel dress inspired by Gustav Klimt’s portrait of Adele Block-Bauer, with her dark hair clipped flapper-short to match. Anne Hathaway’s gown, designed by Michael Kors, referenced the Keats poem “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” “She is my Grecian urn,” Kors said. Ayo Edebiri’s white dress with wide, gauzy streamers made her look like a dove about to fly away.
Some outfits focused entirely on the bodily aspect of the theme. All Kardashian-Jenners present came in bodices protruding in the shape of their nipples. When Beyonce walked the red carpet in a sheer gown embellished in the shape of a skeleton, it made her fans shriek. Commentators wondered aloud if she would remove the feather piece before she walked.
Absurdities abounded. Gigi Hadid described the evening as “our version of high school art class,” before saying how she just felt “like herself” in a transparent Miu Miu gown and matching satin Miu Miu underwear. One interviewer asked Amanda Seyfried if she drank her male goat’s milk.
There were notable absences this year, including Zendaya, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Meryl Streep. Streep’s representatives told Page Six that “While she appreciates Vogue, Anna, and her incredible imagination and stamina, it has never quite been her scene.” The Devil Wears Prada 2 was released three days before the gala. The movie’s plot centers around the sale of Runway, a fake name for Vogue. A tech-billionaire loses a bid for the magazine to his ex-wife, a glamorous, discreet woman played by former Bond girl actress, Lucy Liu.
The Bezos-crashing may serve as a reminder that the Met Gala is not only a dress-up party for shiny people but a fundraiser, designed to funnel cash towards archival couture preserved at the Met’s Costume Institute. Max Hollein, the director and chief executive officer of the museum, wanted people to know that the money raised really is for the museum. He told CNN that it is “more challenging, more expensive” to preserve fashion-related artifacts than it is to preserve other kinds of art.
The gala will always have its controversies and absurdities. But I agree with the sentiment behind Courtney Love’s defense of her attending the Oscar’s in 1998: “If you have the opportunity to go… in a fabulous gown and look absolutely fabulous, you’re going to f****** take it.”
Comments