the best (and worst) met gala themes of all time
We are t-minus 4 days until fashion’s biggest night! In anticipation of this year’s gala, I want to revisit some of my favorite themes of the past. My initial plan was to try and rank every single theme, but there are truly too many. Stay tuned until the end of this newsletter if you want to know which one I think is the worst though. For my list, I focused mainly on the exhibition themes themselves. I didn’t really take the red carpets into account, and they are rarely mentioned. If you want to see the greatest Met Gala red carpet looks of all time, every single publication has uploaded a list this week. You can assume that I agree with most of those. This is going to be a long one, so without any further ado, I present my favorite Met Gala themes:
Romantic and Glamorous Hollywood Design (1974)
In 1974, The Met looked at Hollywood’s influence on fashion. The exhibition featured famous costumes from movies including Marilyn Monroe’s subway grate dress, the black and white gown from My Fair Lady, and most of the costumes worn in Gone with the Wind. I would love to see a theme similar to this one done again, especially now that we have 50 more years of Hollywood design to add to the mix. This Gala is largely remembered not for the gowns in the exhibit, but for one worn on the red carpet: Cher’s naked dress.
Yves Saint Laurent: 25 Years of Design (1983)
Yves Saint Laurent became the first living designer to be honored by the costume institute in 1983. The exhibition featured over 150 garments from throughout his career. This might have made the list because I think that Yves Saint Laurent is strangely under-credited for his huge contributions to fashion. I think he gets a little overshadowed by Dior and Chanel. I would love to see another large YSL retrospective soon. If the Met doesn’t want to repeat a theme, I think the Brooklyn Museum could do something great with his work.
Dance (1986)
This might be my favorite of the more forgotten themes. The exhibition explored the history of getting dressed up to go dance. Diana Vreeland wrote the following about the theme.
“Throughout history, beautiful and enticing clothes have been made for dancing because dressing for balls and parties has been the delight of women and men since the beginning of time. Dance and the clothing the world chooses to dance in are a response to the music, to the joy. They are a reflection of how the world was at that particular point in history. “
Diana Vreeland: Immoderate Style (1993)
A tribute to the woman who made the Met Gala what it is. I am obsessed with Diana Vreeland so this showing up on my list should come as no surprise. The gallery was full of clothes she wore, things that inspired her, her work, and other obsessions she carried throughout her life. It makes me wonder what would be in my museum exhibition. Much to think about… And yes, I do anticipate that at some point there will be an Anna Wintour themed Gala.
Christian Dior (1996)
The Met chose Christian Dior as the theme in 1996 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the New Look. If you are going to use a single designer as a theme, Dior is probably one of your best options. I’ll admit that it is hard to not compare this to the recent Dior exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, but as a theme it’s pretty solid. I mean, it was good enough to get Diana there.
Rock Style (1999)
25 years after Romantic and Glamorous Hollywood Design (the most popular exhibition to date at the time), the curators made the case that music had surpassed film as the greatest contemporary influence on fashion. The exhibition was split into 5 categories: Dreamers and Poets, Icons, Brilliant Disguise, Rebels, and High Style. This is another theme that I think would be really fun to revisit. Especially because the gala has become a much bigger spectacle in recent years. They could even combine this with movies and do a celebrity or pop culture exhibit. Just some ideas in case Anna is reading. Hi diva!
AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion (2006)
This was Andrew Bolton’s first show, and it’s an amazing debut. Last year I saw multiple people saying that they wished the Met had honored Vivienne Westwood rather than Karl Lagerfeld. AngloMania was, in a lot of ways, a tribute to Westwood which makes me doubt that we will see a dedicated tribute anytime soon.
Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty (2011)
In my opinion, Savage Beauty changed the game. It was so popular that it was extended, and the museum started staying open late to try to accommodate the lines of people wrapped around the block waiting hours to get in. The show was a retrospective of the late designer’s work shown the year after his untimely passing. This is definitely the best of the designer-as-theme years, and a huge part of that is simply due to McQueen’s genius.
China: Through the Looking Glass (2015)
In 2015, the theme explored the influence of Chinese aesthetics on Western fashion. This is the exhibition featured in the fantastic behind-the-scenes documentary, The First Monday in May, which details the work that goes into the exhibition and gala each year. Similar to 1974, China: Through the Looking Glass tends to be remembered more for a red carpet moment than anything inside the museum. Rihanna’s yellow Guo Pei gown looms large each year as we wait to see if anyone will be able to top it.
Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination (2018)
I could be biased because this is the first Met Costume exhibit I was able to go see in person (on my birthday), but I think this might be the best show the costume institute has ever done. It’s the largest and most attended exhibition ever mounted by the Met, breaking the attendance record previously held by Treasures of Tutankhamun (1978). It looked at the influence of Catholicism on fashion, and featured the work of mostly Catholic designers.
Camp: Notes on Fashion (2019)
I honestly think that this Met Gala changed the culture. For better or worse, a ton of people learned about camp in 2019. Or they at least learned the word and that you can call things camp. There was confusion all around. I stand by the fact that the campiest approach to the red carpet would have been to show up in some sort of outdoorsy gear. Question for the culture: Did the 2019 Met Gala inspire a campier world or did it dilute camp entirely because now we call everything camp? We may never know. This was a fantastic exhibit though, and I don’t think they’ve managed to top it in the years since. Legend has it that Karlie Kloss is still looking camp right in the eye.
That’s my list! Will Monday’s Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion make it onto this list? We will have to wait and see. I will be watching the red carpet, and will update you with all of my thoughts on that. I already know that I will have plenty of strong opinions. If I left out your favorite theme, you can make a case for it in the comments. And as promised, the worst was 1995’s Haute Couture theme because that’s incredibly boring. 1984’s Man and the Horse was pretty bad too.