Light-up gowns, gladiators
Bizarre style at Met Gala
NEW YORK — They came as robots and gladiators, light-up princesses and highhaired goddesses shimmering in green, copper and silver.
As predicted, the annual parade of fashion and star power at the Met Gala on Monday night included an array of interpretations on the evening’s vibe: “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology.”
That’s the name of an exhibit, which opened Thursday, that set the tone for the star-studded evening that raises millions for the Metropolitan Museum of Art each year. This time around, the idea was to explore the convergence of handmade and machine-made elements in fashion, past, present and future.
Some highlights from this year’s Met Gala:
GLOWING GOWNS
Technology, thanks to Marchesa and IBM, wired up the buzz for a dainty gown with ombre-painted flowers worn by Karolina Kurkova. It was a dusty-blue tulle, and the flowers were outfitted with 150 LED lights that changed colors, based on a “cognitive” analysis of the brand’s color palette. The geeks correlated data from hundreds of images of Marchesa gowns and related social media sentiment to show how technology can enhance the human imagination.
Besides, Kurkova said, her battery pack kept her warm. Claire Danes also lit up in a pale-blue wired-up Zac Posen dress that has been teasing for days on social media.
THE OUTRAGEOUS
Lady Gaga strolled in wearing a ribbed Versace bodysuit with towering platform shoes and metallic silver jacket. And Katy Perry donned a black velvet Prada gown with gold embellishment that looked like it could hurt someone. She also had black helmet hair and a little Tamagotchi digital pet she called her “tech element.” Other ragers: Madonna exposed her bum, and Nicki Minaj sported a strappy, sparkly black number with lots of buckles designed by her date, Jeremy Scott.
MEMORABLE MEN
Idris Elba, a gala co-host, took the nobodywears-a-tuxedo-and-tails-better award. Jared Leto wore a custom Gucci white tailcoat with a white evening shirt and white bow tie, completing his look with a hand-carved black lacquer cane with a silver- and crystal-embellished cat-head detail. And Kanye West wore a Balmain silver-embellished denim jacket with ripped jeans to accompany wife Kim Kardashian, who was similarly silver. West turned his eyes blue somehow. His one-word explanation to E! for his look: “vibes.”
GLADIATORS
Taylor Swift, also a co-host, went full-on gladiator to go with her fierce new tousled platinum locks. Her black sandals laced up to just below the knee and were paired with a Louis Vuitton silver, sparkly mini that had ruffled tiers at the bottom and cutouts on the sides. The look was topped off with an ultradark lip shade.
Who else evoked Roman stadium fighters of old? Alicia Vikander, also in metallic Vuitton but with a bright-red bustier to go with copper, black and white skirting and chunkyheeled combatlike boots.