Met Gala 2021: the celebration of a new America
That much-anticipated event of the year that we could perhaps compare to the Oscars is approaching. Finally, the Met Gala will return this September 13, 2021 with a live event. Indeed the previous edition – About Time: Fashion and Duration– had been cancelled due to the outbreak of the pandemic.
If in the past edition the event was dedicated to a philosophical, literary and anthropological exploration of the relationship between fashion and time. This year America will be the undisputed protagonist. American Independence is the dress code of the event, ahead of In America: A Lexicon of Fashion, the first of two exhibitions to be displayed at the Costume Institute.
Met’s famous curator Andrew Bolton organized the two exhibitions on schedule, conceiving the space of the Costume Institute as a series of rooms. Within them, the new faces of America will be celebrated, in the light of the important ongoing battles for social justice and inclusion. “The social justice movements of last summer reinforced their [the designers’] commitment to these issues”, Bolton stated, “and also consolidated their leadership in advancing the conversation.”
Fashion is continually solicited and declined by the course of events, more precisely, it is a material manifestation of these. According to Bolton, American fashion is going through a Renaissance and documenting the process is precisely the purpose of these two exhibitions. The first one, will display the work of emerging designers, including Christopher John Rogers, the one who dressed Kamala Harris on the day of the assignment. To participate to the events, there will also be some collaborators from the cinema industry. Bradford Young, author of “Selma” and “When They See Us”, Franklin Leonard, founder of The Black List, a collection of un produced screenplays.
Despite the intimate nature of event in the face of the pandemic still underway, there will be no shortage of Hollywood and entertainment stars. The co-stars of the Gala will be Billie Eilish, cover star of the month on British Vogue, and Timothée Chalamet. Other important and symbolic presences will be the poet Amanda Gorman and the tennis player Naomi Osaka.
As for the second exhibition on schedule, the appointment is set for 5 May 2022. In America: An Anthology of Fashion will be held in the halls of the famous American Wing. This second chapter will explore the narratives of an American fashion inevitably intertwined with its complex history.
