Lydia Glenn 

Staff Writer

The Met Gala, a place where fashion is the topic and where celebrities, young creatives, and industry paragons are the displays. This year, the Met Gala, or more formally known as the Costume Institute Gala, was hosted on September the 13 with the theme being “American independence”. The theme of the event tied into the larger theme of this year’s museum collection and exhibition which is known as “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion”. The exhibition is a two-part series with the second part as “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” and will be held in September of 2022.

This annual event that everyone seems to be talking about not only focuses on the celebrities and the extravagant costumes they wear, but it is about raising money for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The Met Gala is the Museum’s biggest charity event and each ticket costs about $35,000 with tables anywhere between $200,000 and $300,000. Presumably, the event is an important part of the museum’s income. Along with the financial benefit the museum receives from the gala, it also spreads light on the pieces displayed. This year’s piece which goes hand and hand with the theme was a nineteenth-century quilt handmade by a wealthy woman named Adeline Harris Sears. The quilt, although not a piece of clothing, celebrates the idea of a 17-year-old girl sending pieces of textiles around the country to well-known people, asking them to sign their names and send it back. After nearly two decades, the now young woman’s project was finished and it included names such as Charles Dickens, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and President Abraham Lincoln along with many others. Sears’ patch-work project may have been just a blanket in the nineteenth century but is now on display in the Met and speaks as a symbol for early feminism and ingenuity as well as America’s unity regardless of shape, size, or color. 

Although the theme called for “American independence”, rooted from Sears’ infamous quilt, most of the designers on display at this year’s gala were predominantly European. The familiar ones like Gucci, Versace, and Dior took over the stage. Playing more into the idea of a non-American yet American costume was Yara Shahidi’s strapless Dior dress. The dress was a tribute to the Jazz Age entertainer Josephine Baker and channeled the theme remarkably well. Another example of this paradox was Channing Tatum who wore a plain Versace Tux, but explained that he was channeling John F. Kennedy, Jr. 

Regardless of most of the celebrities, the theme was not lost in translation, and some celebrities lived up to expectations. A$AP Rocky wore what looked like his grandmother’s quilt. This piece of fashion was designed by a California based brand and exemplified the central piece of the collection, Sears’ quilt. 

Then there were other celebrities who took the assignment for face value, to display American based designers. Kim Petras wore a western styled dress, topped off with a rubber horse head by New York designer Collina Strada. 

All the pieces at the Met gala represented their brands well, and even small up and coming designers were proudly represented, creating an overall youthful feel to the event. Even if youth was not what they were going for, it was present. The four chairpeople for the event were Naomi Okasa, Billie Eilish, Timothée Chalamet, and Amanda Gorman. Their ages spanned from late teen to early to mid-twenties, embracing the talented youth that is present in America today. 

The gala was one for the books with insane costumes and strong social messages. Although the theme was taken as more of a suggestion, some of the costumes were rather contradictory, but many others symbolized “American independence” and the appreciation of American design and fashion in history.