Is it “fashion’s biggest night out” or fashion flop of the year? This year’s Met Gala left us confused about the inspiration of some questionable outfits. 

The Met Gala or also known as the Met Ball, is a fundraising event for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. Every year designers, celebrities, and even influencers attend dressed in a unique theme. 

The theme for this year’s Met Gala, “Gilded Glamour and White Tie”, pays homage to the time period of the Gilded Age. This time from 1870 to 1900 was a period of prosperity, rapid economic growth and major industrialization, but also the beginning of an imbalance of the wealthiest and the poorest. 

Women’s fashion of the Gilded Age tended to reflect the social movements that took place during this period, with corsets and the high fashion trend, the “bustle”. As for the fashion for men, tuxedos were all the rage. Later on, men opted for a less Victorian-style and more simplistic design, which was known as the “Artistic Dress movement”.

Though many people were anticipating this theme to be filled with elegance and class, it was proven to be a challenge for many of the guests.

This year designers proved that they are vanity was more important than abiding to decades of intricately planned themes. 

Before talking about the flops at the Met, we still want to recognize the attendees who more often than not steal the spotlight. Per usual, Blake Lively, Sarah Jessica Parker, Taylor Hill, and some veteran stars showed us how to uphold a Met theme. 

Parker attended in a Christopher John Rogers gown, dedicated and inspired by the first Black female fashion designer Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley. Keckley designed dresses for Mary Todd Lincoln and was a formerly enslaved woman before she worked in the White House. 

Co-host Blake Lively’s dress also had a story to tell with a copper dress, which transformed into a copper green train, paying tribute to The Statue of Liberty. She included architectural details of New York, like the Empire State Building, and her crown included the seven spikes of the seven seas in the Statue. In addition to the seven spikes, Lively went over the top to include twenty-five stones to represent the twenty-five windows on the Statue of Liberty. 

Gabrielle Union and Riz Ahmed paid tribute to the immigrant and African American workers who built America and worked on the railroads and factories during the period of the Gilded Age. 

Union attended in an Atelier Versace dress with red flowers on the front of her dress and a red hair clip. Ahmed wore a navy-blue set, tucked white tank, and heavy-duty boots dedicated to designer Angelo Urrutia of 4S Designs. 

While there were a small handful of attendees that followed the theme and looked good, the rest of those dressed were mediocre at best. There were some moments of the Met that I found myself asking, “What is this?” I was left dumbstruck from the lack of class that “fashion’s biggest night out” was supposed to uphold. 

I wouldn’t consider myself easy to be left speechless, but Emily Ratajkowski, Kourtney Kardashian and Fredrik Robertsson did exactly that to me in the worst way possible. The complete disregard of the theme and lack of respect for the fashion industry leave me to believe the Met Gala is not what it used to be.

Not only was I left speechless, but I was also blinded by the amount neon celebrities showed up in. Sebastian Stan and Gwen Stefani deserve a category to themselves for the atrocities that they decided to burden us viewers with. The neon colors that made appearances more times than needed were appalling to witness on the red carpet and to no surprise the colors show no correlation to the theme once again.

The Met Gala is slowly simmering into a laughing matter rather than the prestigious high fashion event that everyone anticipates as they continue to invite questionable people. This event has been dragged down by the tasteless outfits that ignore the detailed and intricately planned theme. So, this begs the question, how will future Met’s bring back the event’s high fashion spirit?

Best Dressed Part 1: 

Best Dressed Part 2: 

Worst Dressed: