By Abigail Carrillo
On the first Monday in May, the biggest fashion event of the year deemed “The Oscars of the Fashion World” is held in New York City. Millions of people tune in on Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat to see what the biggest celebrities are wearing down the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Every year, the Metropolitan Museum of Art holds an exclusive extravaganza to raise funds for the Met’s Costume Institute. Anna Wintour who is chair, oversees both the benefit committee and the very specialized guest list. During this event, the themed exhibitions are displayed by the museum’s curator, Andrew Bolton. The Gala helps gain attention for the museum and attracts many visitors to the institute. One very successful exhibition was,”Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” (2018), which attracted more than 1.65 million visitors.
“About Time: Fashion and Duration,” which is this year’s themed fundraiser, was celebrated online with an exclusive look inside the making of the Met Gala. In order to help stop the spread of COVID-19, the most influential fashion event of the year took a virtual turn. On Vogue’s official YouTube channel, a live stream featured music from DJ/fashion designer Virgil Abloh and singer Florence Welch. Vogue’s editor-in-chief and the chair of the Met Gala, Anna Wintour, also gave a formal speech capturing what is going on regarding the pandemic and how it is affecting the world of fashion.
This year’s Gala was centered around the concept of time, as they simultaneously celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Met. The museum has a new exhibition which presents a chronology of different fashion pieces from 1870 to 2020. The exhibit seeks to show how time is relevant to fashion and designers. Since fashion is relatively a cycle of old and new trends, this year’s exhibition showcased interpretations of pieces made centuries ago, redesigned as if they were made in 2020.
The exclusivity of the Met Gala is one of the elements that makes it so popular. Designers such as Alessandro Michele, Donatella Versace, and Thierry Mugler pair up with big celebrities, who are also considered “guests” to interpret the exhibition’s theme and create statement looks that are sure to make conversation and online buzz.
A ticket to attend is $30,000, but even if a guest can afford the price, he or she must have Wintour’s approval. Usually, companies such as Amazon buy tables at the Gala and invite celebrities to attend in place of the company for endorsements.
The Costume Institute’s collection of more than 33,000 objects represents seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present. The institute looks upon clothing as art. Ever since Wintour took the position of chair in 1995, she reinvented how the museum and The Gala are looked upon by the world by proving how much clothing is “part of the embellishment of life,” according to Wintour.
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