Rihanna shows her mitre at Met Gala
IF SOCIAL media is any judge, Rihanna won. She won all the attention. The bragging rights. The hearts and minds. Her victory was on the red carpet for Monday evening’s Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute benefit.
In celebration of the exhibit “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination”, she arrived wearing a Maison Margiela silver embroidered and spangled ensemble with a matching mitre – or, in layman’s terms, a pope hat.
Her ensemble was a technical and creative wonder. Did she look stunning? Not exactly. More precisely, she looked outlandish, which has become the raison d’etre of the Met Gala red carpet. One must break the internet, trend on social media and leave tongues wagging.
This year, the gala brought forth Cardi B, who arrived in pearls, trailing satin and wearing a Madonna-esque headpiece. There was Nicki Minaj dressed as an haute couture devil in red Oscar de la Renta, Katy Perry in Versace, and with a six-foot wing span, and the hip hop trio Migos, dressed like the fashion equivalent of an Atelier Versace-induced acid trip. Stir in a bit of Jared Leto wackiness.
The Met Gala red carpet is a red carpet to nowhere – at least for the watching public. It does not precede a televised award show or concert. The promenade is the main event. It is the fashion show of the cultural imagination, a place where fashion is everything people imagine it to be – if only for one night. The typical industry runway presentation offers a parade of skinny, nameless models wearing dour expressions and clothes that range from so-so to extravagant. Whereas the Met runway is freely, indulgently outrageous. The faces are familiar. These are entertainers, and it is their job to amuse.
It doesn’t matter whether a frock is good or bad. The public already assumes that all fashion is a bit off the rails. The point is how fabulously, insanely, nutso a guest can go and still exude cool rather than self-consciousness. And so, Rihanna won.
That’s not the same thing as looking great. There was a notable contingent of actors and musicians who honoured the theme of the evening – Catholicism and fashion, a nod to the new exhibit’s subject - but also managed to strike a memorable image. Their ensembles were, by no mean, run-of-the-mill; most people wouldn’t wear them in a million years. But they didn’t, to use a technical term, look bonkers.
But over-the-top and mind-boggling is where the bar long ago was set by the likes of Beyoncé. In 2015, she showed up naked except for some well-placed crystals by Givenchy. The following year, she wore a bedazzled condom. The regular folks who attend – the mere millionaires and billionaires, corporate titans, political powerhouses, philanthropic leaders and sports stars – cannot compete. So what if they have the money to actually buy these clothes? They do not have the chutzpah to wear them.
Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue and artistic director of Condé Nast, is the organiser and ruler of the Met Gala, and it doesn’t matter who you think you are; you don’t get to attend unless Wintour says so.
The Met is a big night for fashion. It raises money for the Costume Institute, an institution that situates attire in the broader cultural conversation. – Washington Post