Like I said before, the broadness of the Met Gala theme stymied many attendees. Some played with the concepts of gardens/flowers or time, others leaned into the fairytale aspect of the “Sleeping Beauties” museum exhibit. It made for a muddled presentation in where there was little consistency on the carpet. Just because the museum exhibit is literally titled “Sleeping Beauties”, I would not have taken “fairytale” as the assignment, but here are a bunch of people who did to varying degrees of success. 

 

First up, Lana Del Rey in Alexander McQueen, accompanied by McQueen designer Seán McGirr. Her antlered veil look is a reference to McQueen’s legendary 2006 autumn-winter collection. Most of us, I think, went to Yellowjackets’ “Antler Queen”, though I went to Cernunnos, the Celtic lord of the wild things, and True Detective, too. The presence of McGirr should have been a massive tipoff about the reference, but thus is the power of television. Lana looks great, though, I legit think this is one of the best looks of the night.

 

Another great look is Demi Moore in a custom gown by Harris Reed, and brand new jewels by Cartier, the “Chloris” demi parure, named after the Greek goddess of spring. I love the dress and the jewelry separately, I do not think they work at all together. That necklace needs to be shown off, not overwhelmed by such an architectural gown. Similarly, a dress of that magnitude shouldn’t be competing with accessories. I do love this dress though. Reed used old wallpaper to make the floral applique. I dig the repurposing of materials and tying together the long history of floral prints in fashion and interior design. I just wish they picked either the dress OR the necklace to highlight, not both.

 

Speaking of repurposing materials, Zac Posen used Gap denim to make Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s medieval-esque gown (he’s the new creative director of Gap, Inc). The Merida jokes make themselves, but honestly, I immediately leapt to evil stepmother with this look. Again, it’s leaning into Disney territory without directly referencing any specific character or film, and there’s also a pre-Raphaelite edge to it that I like. Da’Vine looks great, and I hope Posen working with Gap doesn’t mean he stops designing gowns. Few people construct garments the way he does.

How is this Queen Latifah’s first Met Gala?! 

 

She attended with her partner, Eboni Nichols. They’re both in Thom Browne, they both look great. I LOVE the bird of paradise beading on Queen Latifah’s gown, and I love that they’re a couple who coordinated looks without matching exactly. I find matching couples to be inherently creepy. Like, who’s starting a cult?

 

And then there are two of my favorites of the night, Quannah Chasinghorse in a classic princess gown of forget-me-not blue by H&M, with a beaded belt by Tlingit designer Heather Dickson of the Carcross Tagish First Nation. The whole look is a nod to Quannah’s roots, her mother is Han Gwich'in and is from Eagle Village, Alaska, and Quannah currently lives in Alaska. It’s a beautiful way to reference both Quannah’s ancestry and the theme of the night.

 

Going in the completely opposite direction is Dua Lipa (sans Callum Turner), in Marc Jacobs. It’s giving boudoir, it’s giving last minute Halloween costume, it’s giving dead crow. I love it, not least because it seemed like Dua was hating that feather boa withing five minutes of stepping onto the carpet, but she kept wrangling it into place. I appreciate her commitment to the bit.

Finally, my least favorite look of the night, Ariana Grande in another f-cking fairy princess gown. I guess I should be glad it’s not totally pink, only a little bit pink via the mother of pearl bodice. She said mother of pearl is her birthstone, and while pearl is listed as one of June’s birthstones, mother of pearl (the nacre scraped from the inside of mollusks), is not. Does this make Ariana wrong, or is she just embracing a wider definition of “pearl”?