Politics — personal, contemporary and historical — lay close to the surface on New York’s Upper East Side on Monday night as 600 guests invited to celebrate America’s golden age at the Met Gala shared their own take on style and the then as now.
The singer Alicia Keys wore a cape celebrating the history of New York’s labor unions. New York Mayor Eric Adams, who had said he had wanted to go to the fundraiser “for years,” appeared on the red carpet wearing a jacket with decorative underarms and lapels that paid homage to the city’s mass transit system. On the back of his coat was written “End Gun Violence” in red.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams with his partner Tracey Collins. Photo Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagicFormer Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in a dress inspired by friendship quilts, which she explained were engraved with the names of “brave women” from 19th- and 20th-century liberation movements.
But the celebration of women’s progress toward equality came as news broke that the US Supreme Court had voted tentatively to overturn Roe v Wade, the landmark judgment that legalized abortion nationwide in America, according to a draft opinion, reported on the Politico.
Politics returned again at the event when Kim Kardashian walked the red carpet in the iconic dress worn by Marilyn Monroe to coo President Kennedy a happy birthday in 1962.
World of Interiors editor Hamish Bowles, sporting a garish matinee idol mustache and gold tiara, said: “Tonight our hearts go out to the people of Ukraine and the victims of war and displacement around the world. The publisher, the main sponsor of the event, made a donation to the Red Cross and “encouraged those who can.”
Dame Anna Wintour’s In America: An Anthology of Fashion Ball kicked off at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with Priscilla Presley to introduce Baz Luhrmann’s forthcoming Elvis film, Anderson .Paak in Gucci from Head to Toe and Ashton Sanders offers ” Blade, Vampire Point”.
Riz Ahmed, in a T-shirt and a working-class shirt, said he was trying to “uplift and celebrate working-class immigrants.” Amy Schumer said, “When Gabriella Hearst offers to get dressed, you put your spanx on right over your cesarean scar.” Janelle Monáe has been promoting her sc-fi book. Blake Lively came as the Statue of Liberty.
Amy Schumer. Photo: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty ImagesThe Met Gala is a commercial offering light years away from its inception in 1946 by publicist Eleanor Lambert, who is credited with bringing European fashion to America.
The influential Business of Fashion magazine said this year’s event could become the “most important Met Gala” of Wintour’s career. After two years of hiatus – one canceled by Covid-19; another understaffed due to international travel bans and vaccination requirements – Monday’s gala is said to have been back in full force.
With tables ranging from $200,000 to $300,000, last year’s September event raised $16.4 million for the Costume Institute. But it’s also a moneymaker for Vogue. According to Amy Odell’s newly published biography on Wintour, now Condé Nast’s global chief content officer, the publisher’s selling point is to sell advertising. This year, it’s also a pitch to sell online subscriptions to Vogue.com and lure visitors to the Met Museum.
“Ultimately, this is an extremely important fundraiser,” Anna-Lisa Yabsley, head of digital strategy at Condé Nast, told BoF. “Everything we do content-wise is about raising awareness and getting people through the door.”
Vogue charged $1 million for two six-second spots on their Met Gala livestream over a two-hour period, according to BoF. Tracking data shows the stream garnered 16 million views, along with 260 million Gala-related social media views.
According to tracking company Launchmetrics, the night generated $543 million in media impact value, or the effect of placements and mentions – compared to the $520 million of the Super Bowl. According to BoF, the more Vogue can market the Met Gala as the Super Bowl of fashion, the more it will be able to demand.
Kim Kardashian, pictured with Pete Davidson, in the iconic Marilyn Monroe dress. Photo: Stephen Lovekin/BEI/Rex/ShutterstockEarlier Monday, the First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, a preview of the show, which features nine commissioned films from directors including Radha Blank, Janicza Bravo, Sofia Coppola, Julie Dash, Autumn de Wilde and last year’s Oscar winner Chloé Zhao, features Best Picture winners.
The films celebrate overlooked figures in early American fashion, particularly women designers and those of color. Costume Institute senior curator Andrew Bolton said in announcing the show that they have been “forgotten, overlooked, or relegated to a footnote in the annals of fashion history.”
Fashion activists said the Met Ball itself had long been an opportunity for more inclusivity than the publisher’s structure or its pages would have realized up until the 2020 race protests.
In her remarks, Biden said, “Style helps us express things that words cannot.
“The way we behave, how we shrug our shoulders in difficult times or smile kindly even when we don’t agree. How we choose to show up for our communities—the small gestures of kindness that are remembered long after they’re offered.”
She continued, “And that includes what we wear.”