This year, the Metropolitan Museum of Art held their annual Met Gala on May 6. What was originally intended (and still is) a fundraiser for the New York Metropolitan Museum of Arts, has turned into its spring runway show. This year saw the theme of “Garden Of Time.” This year specifically, The New York Times reported the gala was able to raise 26 million dollars to benefit the museum.
Most notably, the MET Gala attracts media attention for its fashion.
The most online hype has gone to Tyla. Tyla is a MET Gala rookie, this year being her debut. Tyla is a Grammy winner from South Africa, most known for her song “Water.” This year, she wore a dress designed specifically for the event by Balmain. The ideas of the dress appeared to be hourglass not only symbolizing the passage of time and the sand in an hourglass, but also Tyla’s hourglass figure. Tyla describes the dress as “I’m wearing sand.” What seemed to catch the attention of the public was the veracity of that statement, at the gala, Tyla had issues walking up stairs in the stiff dress and even had it cut in the middle of the function.
Lana Del Ray made her return for the first time since 2018. The Coachella headliner wore a custom look by Seán McGirr, a designer for Alexander McQueen. The dress was a reflection on a creation from McQueen’s 2006 fall collection, which utilized many natural elements as well as bold basic tones, like gold and brown. The garb, as it only can be described, featured a corseted dress with branches – branching out holding what seemed to be a falling sand of time. Del Rey has now attended the gala three times, beginning with her gala debut wearing a custom design by Gucci. At the second gala, she wore a dress that she bought at the mall, which is a very dramatic choice for someone paying for a ticket that is the same price as a car. This choice caught the public’s attention, but the dress “from the mall,” as cheap as it may sound, is made by Altuzarra, and a dress of the same brand and color will set you back around 500-2,500 dollars.
Much like the one described above, popular culture controversy is common to arise at the MET Gala, last year it was Kim Kardashian’s use and damage of the iconic “Happy Birthday Mr. President” Marilyn Monroe dress. In 2021, it was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with her “Tax The Rich” dress which caught controversy as her ticket to the gala cost 30,000 dollars. This year the controversy surrounds Jennifer Lopez, more notably “J.Lo”, or “The girl from the block”.
Over the past couple of months, Lopez has been under heat online, with some accusing her of not being “from the block.” Lopez describes in an interview with Vogue that her order at the bodega (generic small deli/store, typically in an urban area) was “Ham and cheese – on a roll with an orange drink, if you know you know, and a small bag of chips.” For context, many bodega orders go under some sort of code for locals to order. Of all bodega orders this one is extremely generic, and no one on the internet seemed to be able to exactly pin what an “orange drink” was, or why she felt the need to specify “small” in context to the chips. One TikTok user, Angel Guts, remarks it as “The most plain f—- order, like what chips? Like what drink?”
The passion against Lopez has now led to a crescendo at this year’s MET Gala. Showing up in a Hand-Crafted Schiaparelli dress, her offense was neither in-depth nor specific. Fans were upset with her treatment of reporters. It is courtesy to describe what one is wearing to reporters with kindness and personability; Lopez was regarded as not having the same poise and class as other celebrities.
This year’s MET Gala was a big success, raising lots of money for the MET, and gaining lots of celebrity press. Going into next year, the theme for the 2025 MET Gala will be Extragalactic, which will include designers and celebrities interpretations on a look at space and interstellar features for their outfits.
