Met Gala Trends 2016
The 2016 Met Gala Theme Is Announced!
The trick is not to step on anyone’s train,” Wes Gordon explained at the Met Gala in the entrance to the Palm Court of the Metropolitan Museum—he had watched one of the Met Gala’s co-chairs, Miuccia Prada, scolding a less swift-footed entrant earlier in the receiving line— “at this event that’s easier said than done.” And this year’s co-chairs—Anna Wintour, Jony Ive, Prada, Idris Elba, Taylor Swift and Nicolas Ghesquière—are not a group you’d like to trip in front of. As if to prove his point, right over Gordon’s shoulder Amber Valletta delicately separated the palettes of her dress from the tulle skirt of a passing guest, while Zoe Saldana and Rita Ora traversed the room, followed by several feet of luxuriantly feathered train. The other trick? Shockingly sensible shoes—Mary-Kateand Ashley Olsen took the red carpet in tousled manes, sweeping hemlines and flat shoes; the Louis Vuitton crew, from the event co-chair Taylor Swift to Selena Gomez and Alicia Vikander, favored the brand’s lug soled combat boots, while singer Halsey was in flat soled wide white ones, as masterminded by Dao-Yi Chowand Maxwell Osborne of Public School—good for traversing the multiple levels of the exhibition, among other purposes (“I’ll be dancing on the tables later,” said Halsey).
Hair became another accessory, either super-straightened, tied up in knots, or in the case of Lupita Nyong’o, taken to topiary heights. And accessories took on special import—Bette Midler, who came as Marc Jacobs’ date, wore a beaded headdress by Suzanne Bartsch; Madonna arrived on Riccardo Tisci’s arm and jeweled to the hilt; Liberty Ross, squired through by husband Jimmy Iovine, wore a feathered fascinator and veil; Gomez wore narrow, rounded sunnies to match her Vuitton; while Zayn Malik, escorting girlfriend Gigi Hadid, wore oversized robot arms over his tuxedo like a Transformer mid-, well, transformation. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West took couple coordination to another level in metallicBalmain (dress, for her, jacket, for him)—topped only, perhaps, by the custom J.Crew tuxedos and black reading specs sported by Lena Dunham, Jenna Lyonsand Jenni Konner. Kris Jenner’s clan, found inside the cocktail hour chatting with fellow models Taylor Hill and Stella Maxwell, formed their own Balmain Army, the matriarch in shiny black, Kylie in silver (echoing Kim’s), while only Kendallbroke away from the pack in stringy cream and navy Atelier Versace.
It was an evening all about embellishments: layered paillettes, like that of Brie Larson’s shimmering Proenza Schouler frock, or the floppy sequined Louis Vuitton worn by Swift, or even the subtle jewelry sported by the siblings Smith—that’d be Jaden and Willow, wearing Louis Vuitton and Chanel, respectively, and spending much of the evening carousing with friends in the Palm Court. There were examples of technological advances to be had beyond the exhibit, too, fromEmma Watson’s five-piece Calvin Klein sweeping trouser and bodice ensemble (she whipped off the overskirt after the red carpet), which was made entirely out of recycled plastic bottles, to Claire Danes or Karolina Kurkova’s mood-ring of a frock (a co-design between Marchesa and IBM’s Watson) the color of which was decided by the overall mood of the tweets it was aggregating, to the irrepressibly fine detailing of Lily-Rose Depp’s Chanel Haute Couture bomber jacket, which looked like nothing so much as thousands of pressed flowers—not bad, for a Met Gala debut. At 8:00 p.m. on the dot, the trumpets began to sound—“Is Beyoncéhere?” asked one cocktail party goer. She was, in puff-shouldered beadedGivenchy latex (a look she said was actually easier to slip into than last year’s crystal number, by the way)—but it was the call to dinner, dancing, and the rest of the most exclusive evening of the year.
