Fashion's Biggest Night Out Of The Year, Met Gala Event
Earlier this week, The Costume Institute confirmed that fashion’s biggest night out, the Met Gala, will be returning to its event calendar this year after a hiatus due to the pandemic. For the first time since 1948, the event will take place on Monday, September 13, instead of the typical first Monday in May. The Costume Institute announced that this year will mark the first of a two-part exhibition on American fashion, sponsored by Instagram and Conde Nast. Part one, “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion” is set to open to the public on September 18, 2021 in the Anna Wintour Costume Center. “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” will open on May 5, 2022 in the period rooms of the American Wing, and both shows will run through September 5, 2022.
According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute’s Instagram, both galleries will feature a fictional American home constructed with transparent walls that intersect and overlap, blurring the boundaries of the rooms. For “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” each room will represent a particular emotive quality like warmth, rebellion, or joy. Each room will also be occupied by an ancestor of fashion and “related family.” The second part of the exhibit, “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” will explore and examine the history of fashion regarding race, gender, and materiality, and will attempt to answer the question, “Who gets to be American?” The exhibit will also probe stereotypes of American fashion through the work of Claire McCardell.
Wendy Yu is the Curator in Charge of the Costume Institute and Andrew Bolton, who expressed his excitement for this exhibit, says he thinks America is undergoing a renaissance of diversity, inclusion, sustainability, and transparency in fashion. He sees art as living and emotional for it’s all about innovation and reinvention. Bolton told Vogue that the main reason for choosing this theme for the exhibition was because the American fashion community has supported the Costume Institute for 75 years, and he wanted to acknowledge that support as well as celebrate and reflect on American fashion.
“Part of the idea of the exhibition is to give American fashion its due and to give back its storytelling abilities.”
The last time the institute covered American fashion was in 1988 in its “American Ingenuity” exhibition. Designers featured in the two-part “American Fashion” include Ralph Lauren, Virgil Abloh, Bonnie Cashin, Halston, only to name a few. While, aside from the date and theme, little is yet known about the 2021 Met Gala itself but expect to see the red carpet riddled with pieces by American designers representing both classic America and the more modern, bold America as well.
“In America” represents an opportunity to find new ways of speaking, thinking, and presenting fashion in the United States, and it couldn’t come at a more appropriate time. Whether you love the Gala for the star-studded red carpet, celebrity bathroom selfies, or for the spectacular exhibits themselves, the Met Gala 2021 is sure to be one for the ages.
Article by Katie Harkey, Contributor, PhotoBook Magazine
Tearsheets by Victoria Durant, Contributor, PhotoBook Magazine
