Hi everyone, it’s Justine.
Every year in May, the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum, in New York, hosts
a huge gala to celebrate the opening of their new fashion exhibition.
Every year, it’s one of my favorite red carpets to review, because a.
It’s a theme party and b.
Because you have a guarantee that it’s gonna be totally over-the-top.
This year, the exhibition is baptized (pun intended) “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & the
Catholic Imagination”.
It revolves around how the Catholic church has influenced and fostered art.
Think of all the works of art that wouldn’t exist without the Catholic church, like the
Sistine Chapel in Rome, like the objects and artifacts used in churches, like urns, candelabras,
pulpits, etc.
Religion has been a source of influence and inspiration for fashion as well.
So the theme of this year’s MET gala was clearly linked to religious symbolism.
I’d like to review the outfits on the red carpet in the light of that theme, ranked
from not so good to brilliant/excellent, and I’ll explain why I ranked the outfits that
way.
Let’s go!
Not so good for a MET Gala, 2 stars…
Gisele Bündchen looked like a Hollywood mermaid, literally, wearing liquid gold, matching with
the embroidery on Mr. Brady’s jacket.
But… where is the link to the theme?
Kendall Jenner wore THE hyped label of the moment, Off-White.
It showed off her model body, which looks great, check.
But apart from being white, maybe to suggest Virgin Mary, her outfit wasn’t on theme.
Tiffany Haddish wore a custom Brendon Maxwell outfit.
It’s not on theme, but for another occasion, I love the outfit.
It is strong.
It is elegant.
It is super flattering.
It’s a silhouette that I really, really like.
Lily Aldridge wore a Ralph Lauren Collection yellow dress.
Yellow or gold is a religious color.
It’s a code.
She is also wearing a belt, like the priests, that falls down on the left side, as it’s
supposed to be.
It’s flattering for a silhouette.
It’s not “wow” in terms of theme, but it’s ok.
Moving on to good outfits, 3 stars…
Kim Kardashian was on theme, with a dress by Atelier Versace, so handmade work, with
beaded crosses.
If there’s only one symbol of the Catholic church that you know, it would probably be
the cross.
Ok…
But the thing is: it’s the same silhouette she also wears every other day of the year.
She just launched a fragrance whose bottle has the shape of her body, so this outfit
is again accentuating and showing her body.
It’s great PR for her.
It’s not exactly super creative.
Notice though, and that’s interesting, that she’s going bare shoulders.
In the past, in previous years, on that exact red carpet of the MET, she has been wearing
very often structured dresses with reinforced shoulders by Balmain, typically because she
wanted to compensate for the width of her hips when she got when pregnant.You can tell
that she’s feeling more confident in her body again, because she’s showing her shoulders
again.
À propos Balmain: Jennifer Lopez adopted exactly that look with the strong shoulders
to try to create an hourglass figure for herself.
The feathers at the bottom of the dress bring balance, and if you look at the reinforced
shoulders and the added volume at the bottom, overall, it makes her hips appear thinner.
Taylor Hill came dressed as a cardinal, which is fun because in the Catholic church, this
job is strictly reserved for men.
But so many ladies came dressed as the holy Virgin, that I think those who made the effort
to surprise merit extra points.
Lily Collins came as a nun.
Very interesting and creative outfit.
You see a stylized halo around her head.
The neckline is a reference to the Renaissance era, while the bottom, made transparent, makes
the whole outfit extremely modern.
She’s holding a rosary in her hand, very nice detail.
Now we’re getting to great outfits, 4 stars…
Lana del Rey and Jared Leto presented a very aesthetic overall picture.
It’s a lot of symbols of the church, cumulated on to one pair of outfits.
The third person is Allessandro Michele, creative director of Gucci, who created the outfits.
Gigi Hadid was wearing a beautiful dress by Atelier Versace, and I love that it’s not
just a halo and a cross.
The inspiration here comes from stained glass (un vitrail, in French).
In older churches, the windows are made of small pieces of stained glass and/or painted
glass.
And the shape of the stained glass window is the wing of an angel.
Remember: Gigi Hadid is a Victoria’s Secret angel…
So it’s a reference to her being a model, but it’s done in a subtle and beautiful
way, so I’ll definitely take that.
Zendaya went with a reference to a character from the Catholic history…
And that is Joan of Arc.
She was a young lady who saw angels and followed their orders.
She led the French army against the British in the Hundred Years War, in the fifteenth
century.
She was captured and burned at the stake when she was 19.
Later, she was declared a martyr, and finally, she got canonized in 1920.
So in paintings, she often wears armor, which has been beautifully executed for this outfit.
The dress looks like a coat of mail.
It’s absolutely brilliant, and I loved it.
And now, the outfits that really nailed it, 5 stars…
The 4 ladies I’m gonna show now... won.
Their outfits demonstrated incredible craftsmanship and symbols from the Catholic church, without
being too obvious and too literal, and were fun and totally over-the-top: everything that
the MET Gala stands for.
Blake Lively wore a stunning dress by Atelier Versace – again Versace.
It is beaded, red and gold brocade.
Red as a king, gold for the religion.
The fabric work here is unbelievable.
The outfit says ceremonial, power.
It says body (and her body is quite heavenly).
And the headpiece by Lorraine Schwartz…
It is made with 100 diamonds on it, so it’s a complete custom piece for that night.
Sarah Jessica Parker is regularly among the best outfits at the MET Gala.
This year in Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda, displaying the well-known symbol of the sacred heart
of Jesus multiple times.
Her headpiece, also by Dolce & Gabbana, is a representation of a nativity scene, so when
Jesus was born.
She looks royal and elegant without showing much skin, and I think that’s extremely
tasteful.
Katy Perry came with wings.
Of course.
Who else would do that?
The dress is also Versace.
The wings were so huge and massive that she almost slapped her stylist in the face when
just turning around and she had to go through the door sideways.
It’s not practical, but that’s not what the MET gala is for.
The all-star winner, this year, for me, is Rihanna.
She always takes the theme extremely seriously, and this year, she came as the pope himself.
Her hand-made Margiela garment with embellishments all over was so heavy that she said “each
step in this outfit is a squat”.
It’s fun.
It’s over-the-top.
It’s irreverent.
And it’s beautiful handwork.
The house and the celebrity, and the stylist really worked together on the concept that
suits her so very well.
Some of you might think it’s a little bit inappropriate of her, but first, this exhibition
was developed together with the Vatican.
Second, it’s Rihanna.
Third, she was co-hosting the event this year.
What did you expect?
On a personal note, I was a little bit surprised to see that the editor-in-chief of US VOGUE,
Anna Wintour, did not come dressed as the pope, since she’s considered to be the pope
of the fashion industry.
But I’m guessing she didn’t dare, or didn’t think it was appropriate, and/or she didn’t
want to compete with Rihanna, which is fair, because they were hosting this event together.
I was also surprised to see so much Versace.
But Versace is always a good address if you want something extravagant.
That’s for sure, but not so much of Dolce & Gabbana at the same time.
And actually, they are inspired by the Catholic religion.
They’re also Italian.
They would have been a great brand to work with on a theme like this.
If you want to know more, each exhibition at the MET has it’s own book, with the works
of art, everything that is exhibited, explanations, context…
It’s here.
I am certainly getting that one.
I will link it down below for you if you want to have it as well.
Thumbs up if you enjoyed this red carpet review with a bit more context around the theme.
Thank you so much!
What were your favorite outfits according to the theme?
What did you prefer?
Is there someone I didn’t show who you thought was totally on point?
Was your ranking looking the same way as mine?
I’m interested in your opinions.
Let’s discuss in the comments.
Don’t forget to subscribe to this channel if you haven’t done so already.
Thank you very much for all your support, and I’ll see you next year for another MET
Gala review, but way before that, in my next video.
Take care.