Heavenly bodies set to descend on Met Gala
The 2018 Met Gala theme and hosts have been revealed and, kyrie eleison on us all. ‘‘Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination’’ will be the theme of next year’s event, magazine revealed recently.
The annual charity ball, which is known for its outrageous red carpet outfits, will be hosted by Amal Clooney, Rihanna and Donatella Versace, who is a sponsor.
Is hosting a celebration of Catholicism right now a failure to read the room (or at least the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria court list)? Possibly. But, with Jude Law’s Young Pope on screens, Elle’s R. Eric Thompson wrote in response to the announcement, ‘‘Catholicism is a really having a moment. Or, like, a millennium.’’
Of course, the theme offers scope for engagement, and for every Kanye in a pointy Pope hat or Lady Gaga as the Virgin Mary, there will be a starlet playing it safe in a set of rosary beads or a Cardinal-red gown.
But even donning vestments (by Vetements?) to the Catholicthemed Met Gala seems like a cop out.
Who will be the too-cool designer who sends a celeb up the red carpet tied to a burning stake, Joan of Arc style? Please, someone be brave and put Millie Bobby Brown in a water feature frock a` la St Bernadette at Lourdes.
And imagine the headlines when a brave starlet gauges their eyes out in an homage to St Lucy.
New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala, or the Met Gala, is sometimes referred to as the ‘‘fashion Oscars’’. The night A-listers don outrageous fashion to financially support the Costume Institute, and unveil its annual exhibition.
Needless to say, social media reactions to the news were swift.
The 2018 exhibition will ‘‘highlight the enduring influence of religion and liturgical vestments on fashion’’, the announcement read, with pieces from Versace, Balenciaga, Coco Chanel (who Vogue was quick to make sure we all knew ‘‘was educated by nuns’’).
‘‘Central to the conversation will be the papal garb on loan from the Sistine Chapel sacristy, many of which have never been seen outside the Vatican.’’
The Met’s head curator told the
that although he knew the theme ‘‘could be controversial’’, the exhibit focuses ‘‘on a shared hypothesis about what we call the Catholic imagination and the way it has engaged artists and designers and shaped their approach to creativity, as opposed to any kind of theology or sociology’’.
Bolton added that the Vatican has given the exhibit the OK.
The Catholic theme is actually somewhat of a throwback: in 1983 the Met played host to an exhibition titled,
which also featured some papal garments.