With Big Colours Come Big Responsibilities
– 7 min read
Gather round, children, as I tell the legend once more of how colour can bring magic to anyone brave enough to wear it – and inspire the hearts of those who wish they could venture beyond pastels.
If you’re not sure about it, my philosophy or that the thesis is actually true, let me just palate-cleanse you to the kinds of places we intend to go.
Please meet Met Gala frequent flyer Janelle Monae:
This is what we’re dealing with, okay? The platonic ideal we all can get to if we embrace our deepest whimsy. Now, I don’t know what it is, but I know what it has: cables and grass and butterflies and joy. It’s Christian Siriano, and there’s no point even calling it a ‘custom design’ because – who are we kidding?!
Only Janelle Monae would go to the biggest fashion event of the year looking like she fell in an elementary school MakerSpace.
It even includes animatronics, okay!? This is a full immersion experience:
And only Janelle Monae, enabled by Christian Siriano, could look so sanguine and joyful while doing so. Like of course she not only thanked her glam squad and design team but listed the ‘ingredients’ of the dress as follows:
-Live moss
-8 succulents, 4 moving butterflies, 2 dragons fly, 5000 black crystals, Motherboard, 230 electrical wires
-Ethernet polarized cables
-electrical server center wires
So. This is the platonic ideal, and I think it goes without saying that we’re a bit beyond a solid-colour shift here. Where saturated colour is concerned, these are the big leagues. And so, onward, to a Big Player:
So.
The editrix of this website expressed that she thought this Valentino ensemble, with Boucheron jewelry, was a first-ever misstep for Colman. I obviously do not agree, though I might have some notes. But before we get there…
Look at the colours interplay. Look how they move your eyes up to his face and back down again.
Look closer – those are actually squares of what I could only describe as ‘finely packed’ crepe chiffon, it’s an architectural marvel.
But I do think there’s something about the fit that isn’t doing it justice. Like, sometimes I look and think “well it’s a little close around his neck”, and other times that it would be better without the cummerbund cutting it off, but then again, without it, it would be too much uninterrupted plaidness.
There’s also a world where it might be too literal? Like it’s very closely adhering to a soldier/marching band vibe, and maybe if the pants were different or a less strict interpretation of a drum major’s ultimate dream, it would be more overtly a fashion moment? But it’s not a miss. Far from it. You know why?
This is why. First of all, because it photographs better from further away, like your eyes need a bit of distance to process the pattern. But also because what do you see in this picture?
Yeah. Joy. Admiration. Disbelief that he’s here in this moment with the actual real-life Stevie Nicks, and they both look like escapees from a somewhat sophisticated children’s story.
In short, it did what it was supposed to do.
In theory, so did the much calmer ensemble on Ahn Hyo-Seop:
@parismatch #ahnhyoseop #kpopdemonhunters #kdh #MetGala #TiktokFashion #whattowatch
♬ Daylight - jeansaudios
It’s also custom Valentino, with a distinct Art Deco angle, and he looks pleased with the results. He also referred to his red scarf at one point as ‘very bold’, which it is, but like… I assume he said this before he saw Bad Bunny or Gwendolyne Christie or various Kardashians, because… well, it’s a little bold.
But maybe, actually, having seen some of them is what made him a bit anxious. Because this ostensibly light interview has him seeming so stressed:
You heard it, right? The interviewer ‘awwws’ in the middle because he was so nervous! Maybe he was just nervous about the announcement of his upcoming single with Khalid.
This is the thing that’s so stressful about attending something like a Met Gala. You know when you’re having a clothing fit and nothing looks right and as the pile on the floor grows bigger you send an S.O.S to a friend who says, ‘reasonably’, “It’s not going to matter. Nobody’s going to be thinking about it but you…”
Look, if my brain worked that healthily, I wouldn’t be awake parasocialing myself into a fantasy where I’m at a table with all the best gossips at the party and we walk around gathering intel on who’s flirting with who… in other words, here, it does matter. People ARE looking, that’s the whole point. So if they’re gonna look anyway…
You may as well give them something to look at:
YES I WOULD DO EXACTLY THIS.
Rachel Sennott is wearing the ensemble that says ‘yeah, I love this but also I get the humour… you see it, right?’ The bubble gum is inspired (and shout out to her or whoever was on her team telling her to start chewing in enough time to get it ready for the carpet) and the two different shoes?
Please. My little Punky Brewster heart is crying for joy.
“So Marc Jacobs, thanks for making me a dress!”
“Yeah, of course, Rachel, here’s what I have in mind”
“...There’s a blue – what is that, a circle? on the hip.”
“That’s right”
“Just because?”
“Well, because… that’s where the blue circle goes”
“I’ve never loved a dress more in my life”
This is what I meant by ‘play within your limit’. It’s like – when young screenwriters are first starting out, and have to write the script that will introduce them to the whole entertainment world (LOL), they ask anyone and everyone what they should write. And the answer always comes back the same:
“Write the script that only you can write. The one you know you can knock all the way out of the park.”
The same is true for fashion! This outfit doesn’t play if she can’t play in it – but this is absolutely at the level she can absolutely kill, which makes it the best choice, bar none.
Janelle Monae, Colman Domingo, and Stevie Nicks attend the 2026 Met Gala celebrating "Costume Art" at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 04, 2026 in New York City
Ahn Hyo-Seop and Rachel Sennott attend the 2026 Met Gala celebrating "Costume Art" at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 04, 2026 in New York City
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