Met Gala 2021

For the last 70 some years, the Met Gala has been the most exclusive social event in the world and the most important night for fashion (if you’re lucky enough to get invited). Although many associate the Met Gala with outlandish fashion looks, Gala themes were not introduced until 1971 with “Fashion Plate” when Diana Vreeland became consultant to the Costume Institute. She evolved the Met Gala into the glamorous affair we know today. Some of the most iconic fashion looks have come out of previous Met Gala ceremonies. Rihanna’s sherbert yellow robe by Chinese designer Guo Pei in 2015. Cher’s iconic “naked” dress by Bob Mackie, which seems tame by today’s standards, in 1974. Beyonce’s black sheer Givenchy dress with a matching birdcage headpiece, now infamous for that fight. And anything from the 2018 Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination, which was a little controversial for the time, but, in our opinion, was the last Met Gala to produce the best looks fitting with the theme. 

Due to COVID-19, boy that phrase is getting old, the 2020 Met Gala was cancelled along with everything else in the world. To make up for lost time, there will be two exhibitions for this year’s event. The first gala will be held on Monday, September 13, 2021, and the second on Monday, May 2, 2022, reverting back to the original calendar. The overarching theme for both gala’s will focus on American fashion. American Fashion: A Lexicon of Fashion, the first installment, will focus on the jargon of the industry. The second installment, In America: An Anthology of Fashion, will be a full rundown of the timeline of American fashion. 


While this year’s theme may seem underwhelming compared to other years, it is not surprising. When explaining why this theme was chosen, Andrew Bolton, the Wendy Yu Curator in charge of the The Costume Institute said,  'Over the past year, because of the pandemic, the connections to our homes have become more emotional, as have those to our clothes… 'For American fashion, this has meant an increased emphasis on sentiment over practicality.' This past year also saw a reckoning for social justice with the BLM protests and Stop AAPI Hate movement, with people becoming more inclusive, a reflection we’ve seen in the fashion community. “I really do believe that American fashion is undergoing a Renaissance. I think young designers in particular are at the vanguard of discussions about diversity and inclusion, as well as sustainability and transparency, much more so than their European counterparts, maybe with the exception of the English designers,” says Bolton.

While this theme can be a celebration for American fashion pioneers such as Ralph Lauren and Vera Wang, it can also be a chance to showcase newer generations of American fashion designers in the limelight. It will be interesting how celebrities and fashion designers approach this theme. Just please, no tacky American flag print attire (except for Zendaya, she can do no wrong). 

Let us know what you think about this year’s Met Gala’s theme @theedgemag!

FashionKayla Knight