Looking good is no longer enough to stand out on the Met Gala red carpet, for the right reasons. This year’s best outfits at the annual fundraiser that puts designer fashion under the spotlight had captivating backstories that went beyond the traditional parade of sparkle and sexy.
On the steps of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, Kim Kardashian’s dress, originally worn by Marilyn Monroe was the headline, Sarah Jessica Parker’s gown took a chapter out of American history while Blake Lively’s double duty ensemble was an encyclopaedic magnum opus.
The threads of a story at the Met Gala 2022. Kim Kardashian in vintage Jean Louis, Sarah Jessica Parker in Christopher John Rogers, Blake Lively in Versace and Billie Eilish in Gucci.Credit: AP
Kardashian who arrived masked last year in an infamous black catsuit by Balenciaga, stepped out of the shadows in a beaded dress sketched by Cher favourite Bob Mackie for Hollywood costume designer Jean Louis, worn by Marilyn Monroe when she exhaled “Happy Birthday, Mr President” to President Kennedy in 1962.
The reality star proudly claimed she had aggressively dieted to replicate Monroe’s proportions in the fitted gown, which on the surface ignored the evening’s theme of Gilded Glamour and White Tie. Its reputation as the most expensive dress to sell at auction, going under the hammer for $US4.8 million ($5.8 million) in 2016, did make it a suitable representation for an era of excess.
Parker’s voluminous dress was a thoughtful collaboration with designer Christopher John Rogers, who dressed US Vice President Kamala Harris for her inauguration. The full-skirted, strapless check gown with buttoned bodice, was inspired by a dress designed by Elizabeth Keckly for Mary Todd Lincoln in 1862.
The outfit’s provenance may have missed The Gilded Age by eight years, but Keckly’s background as a slave who bought her freedom, was a more important story to tell. Milliner Philip Treacy’s veiled headpiece with feathers and flowers helped the history lesson go down.
As co-chair and serial attendee of the event, overseen by US Vogue editor Anna Wintour, the pressure was on Gossip Girl alumni Lively to embrace the dress code. Lively succeeded in a Versace gown that required a decoder, with multiple references to the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty, including a quick change where a copper-coloured train tore away, revealing an aqua tint to symbolise the patina of age.
Sticking to a not so short, but sweet and cinched message, was Billie Eilish in a mint and lemon Gucci gown with a Gibson Girl silhouette, that stopped short of looking as though it was from the costume department of The Importance of Being Earnest by championing a message of sustainability using repurposed fabric.
“We didn’t have to waste a bunch of stuff and just wanted to be as eco-friendly as possible,” Eilish said, having appeared last year in a strapless princess dress inspired by Marilyn Monroe, from Oscar de la Renta.
Megan Thee Stallion in Moschino, Kate Moss in Burberry, Kaia Gerber in Alexander McQueen and Emily Ratajkowski in vintage Versace.Credit: AP
Not everyone enjoys reading and history. Sometimes it’s just enough to take the shortcut of interpreting gilded as golden, which worked for Megan Thee Stallion and a girl squad of Oscar winner Ariane De Bose and Golden Globe winner Michaela Jae Rodriguez in shiny gowns from Moschino. Stallion had wanted to be “Megan Monroe” for the night, joining the growing queue of flickering candles in the wind.
Choosing the professional route of smile in silence were supermodels happy enough in dresses that merely said “we look good”. Veterans Kate Moss in a black Burberry dress inspired by the label’s classic trench coat and Naomi Campbell with diamanté face jewellery demonstrated that turning up can be enough.
Kaia Gerber, the daughter of supermodel Cindy Crawford looked magnificent in an elaborately beaded Alexander McQueen silver gown with Lady Godiva hair, while Gigi Hadid covered up a Versace catsuit, worthy of Britney Spears at the height of her Oops! I Did It Again fame, with an epic puffer jacket. There was a story behind Emily Ratajkowski’s vintage Versace gown from 1992, but the cheat sheet is that it was flattering and sparkled.
Gigi Hadid in Versace and Kodi Smit-McPhee in Bottega Veneta with Cartier jewellery.Credit: AP
The men drifted into the background, with Hugh Jackman and co-chairs Ryan Reynolds and Lin-Manuel Miranda retreating to the safety of the white tie uniform. The Power of the Dog actor Kodi Smit-McPhee gambled on a “casual Friday” look of jeans and a striped shirt from Bottega Veneta, with jewels from Cartier. Perhaps, some stories don’t need to be repeated.
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