Bring on the Met Gala madness, where fashion rears its ugly head

Jared Leto will not attend the 2024 Met Gala after his viral performance as Karl Lagerfeld’s cat last year.

The Met Gala, which takes place in New York on Monday, chaired by Vogue’s Anna Wintour, has become the biggest night on the fashion calendar, surpassing the Oscars. It is streamed live and is now the favorite event of Generation Z, who devour the OTT looks of the world’s biggest stars.

Last year’s videos were viewed 1.5 billion times on Vogue platforms.

This year the dress code is The Garden of Time, around The Met’s new exhibition, Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.

Chris Hemsworth, Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya and rapper Bad Bunny are co-chairs.

What that actually means is anyone’s guess, because while the rest of us are bothered by ‘smart/casual’ or ‘have to wear shoes’, this complicated dress code at least ensures we get to see which celebrities are good at it and which ones fail.

The latter is much more fun. Last year’s theme was Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty, in which Jared Leto appeared as the designer’s cat, Choupette. Evidently.

And in 2018 it was Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination, so Rihanna emerged as Pope.

Yes, it’s excessive, in a cost of living crisis, but it’s also a moment of pure escapism.

This isn’t a night to wear your jeans, it’s the time to complete Lady Gaga and show up in a giant pink dress, pulling off a red carpet reveal so laborious that the exasperated commentator declared, “I never had Thought I’d say this, but please, Gaga, get off the rug.

These are the outfits that will be fashion infamous, from the bat-poop crazy combos to the complete sartorial fails.

Who could forget Kim Kardashian’s all-black 2021 Balenciaga ensemble of dress, stocking boots, full face mask and cape, which meant she also doubled as a Dementor from Harry Potter. She must also have had serious difficulty eating her dinner.

It’s always better to show a little more of yourself than at a red carpet event, but perhaps not as much as Cara Delevingne did the following year, when she paired her red Dior pantsuit with gold-sprayed breasts. I don’t see that working with the RSL meat dish lottery.

What could work, though, is Rihanna’s gigantic yellow Guo Pei dress from 2015, later dubbed “the omelet,” and Katy Perry’s cheeseburger costume from 2019.

Correctly formulating the dress code for the party of the year is enough to make anyone go crazy and Jared Leto – yes, him again – did just that, in 2019, when he showed up in a red Gucci robe, holding his own head in hand.

I have to hand it to him, it’s an unusual accessory, but not as weird as the strands of his own hair, which Jaden Smith kept in 2017. May I suggest bringing a bag next time.

Finally, if you’re wondering what the heck it’s all for, it will raise both a trillion dollars for the Costume Institute at the Met and eyebrows around the world. But above all, it is fashion, dear, which is absolutely fantastic and always will be.

— Watch the Met Gala on Vogue.com

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