Avant-garde red carpet
Tomorrow is the Met Gala. Buhle Mbonambi writes on what to expect at the fashion world’s biggest event and the avant garde garments he wishes to see on the red carpet
THE Costume Institute Gala is the annual fundraising gala for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York City. This year, Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo of the brand Comme des Garçons is being honoured by the museum.
As is custom, guests have to dress up according to the theme and judging from Kawakubo’s designs, it’s not going to be an easy one to get right – the avant-garde designer is famous for clothes that are not easy to wear.
While it probably will be easy for people like Lady Gaga, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rihanna and even Pharrell Williams, who is the co-chair, it’s going to be interesting to see what gets served up on the biggest red carpet event of the fashion world. But first, here are a few details on the honouree, Kawakubo. WHO: Rei Kawakubo founded Comme des Garçons in 1969 from the 1960s song All the Boys and Girls by French musician Francoise Hardy, and it reportedly detailed one woman’s never-ending doom of being surrounded by couples when she herself can never find love.
The brand made its European debut in 1981 at Paris Fashion Week, after it achieved widespread fame and success in Kawakubo’s native Japan. WHAT: The show is called Rei Kawakubo/comme des Garçons: Art of the In-between and showcases some of the best work done by the designer for the past four decades. WHY: It’s simple really – she is one of the few designers who constantly presents works of art on the runway. The thing about her designs is that they show the lengths you can go with fabric. She has never been afraid to go where other designers won’t go.
It’s for that reason that the Costume Institute saw her worthy of an exhibition. She is only the second living designer to have an exhibition at the Costume Institute dedicated to her. The first one was Yves Saint Laurent in 1983. CELEBS: Comme des Garçons is confirmed to be dressing some of the attendees, with Lady Gaga and Rihanna’s stylists, spotted at a New York vintage store looking for CDG garments.
Zendaya Coleman will be wearing Dolce & Gabbana, while Celine Dion will wear Versace. Williams, Katy Perry, Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady will be present as they are the co-chairs.
We also expect all the Instamodels and iconic supermodels, musicians, actors and, of course, the Kardashianwest-jenners in attendance at the $25 000 (R331 000) per person event.
For the first time in about more than a decade, none of the Trumps will be present at the Met Gala.
I really wish that the celebrities attending would stick to the theme and go wild. There’s no middle