After last year’s Met Gala was cancelled amid the coronavirus pandemic, it looks like plans for this year’s event is starting to come together – and it sounds like an event you won’t want to miss.
On Monday (May 3), the Costume Institute announced the names of the co-chairs for fashion’s biggest night: actor Timothee Chalamet, singer Billie Eilish, poet Amanda Gorman and athlete Naomi Osaka.
According to the press release, “Each of the night’s co-hosts has made their mark on fashion. After breaking the leading man mold with his performance in Call Me By Your Name, Chalamet has become the most influential man in fashion. His unexpected mix of streetwear, lack of a stylist, and embrace of avant grade labels setting him apart from his peers. Likewise, Eilish’s willingness to embrace an aesthetic as innovative as her music has pushed emerging brands into the limelight and challenged old rules about how a pop star should dress.”
“Though she was born in Japan, tennis champ Osaka’s formative years were spent stateside, racking up titles and developing an irreverent sense of style. The striking, colorful pieces she favors on and off the court turned her into a designer muse and one of the best-dressed athletes around,” the statement continues. “Of the group, poet and Vogue cover star, Amanda Gorman is the latest to become a household name, but in her short time in the spotlight, she’s cultivated a look powerful enough to match her words.”
Tom Ford, Adam Mosseri and Anna Wintour will serve as honorary chairs.
The Met Gala is typically held on the first Monday of May, but they moved it to a later date this year – September 13, which would hopefully be a safer time to hold a larger in-person gathering as more and more people get vaccinated. However, it’s still expected to be “more intimate” than usual, given the circumstances.
The event will kick off a two-part theme centered around America. This year’s theme is “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” while the 2022 Met Gala will be “In America: An Anthology of Fashion.”
In a statement released, Max Hollein, the Marina Kellen French Director of The Met, says, “Fashion is both a harbinger of cultural shifts and a record of the forces, beliefs, and events that shape our lives. This two-part exhibition will consider how fashion reflects evolving notions of identity in America and will explore a multitude of perspectives through presentations that speak to some of the complexities of history with powerful immediacy. In looking at the past through this lens, we can consider the aesthetic and cultural impact of fashion on historical aspects of American life.”
The exhibition which, according to the press release, will highlight “everything from the luxe ease of Halston’s ’70s glamour to Rodarte’s ethereal edge and Kerby Jean-Raymond’s powerful political vision for Pyer Moss” will open on September 18. And the display will likely resemble a home in the museum – each “room” represents a different aspect of our relationship to fashion. For example: the office -“aspiration”; the kitchen – “well-being”; the attic – “nostalgia”; etc.
Last year’s theme was “About Time: Fashion and Duration.” While the public was able to check out the curated exhibit on display at the museum – with safety protocols in place, of course – last year’s event went virtual instead.
