Guests who don’t embrace the Met Gala theme are officially The Worst

This article was originally published on May 7th 2019 on The National Student.

For the uninitiated, last night was just like any other first Monday of May in the fashion world; it was the Met Gala. So-called because of its iconic location, officially the Met Gala is actually the Costume Institute Gala, therefore this is not just another celeb-fuelled, paparazzi-goldmine of a party; it is a costume party.

With that said, though, you would be forgiven for not realising that; year after year, the Met Gala’s red carpet plays host to a slew of people who are seemingly more concerned with bolstering their own red carpet portfolio than they are remotely interested in embracing the night’s theme and having a bit of fun.

Who could forget 2016, the theme of which was Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology, when Claire Danes wore a gown that actually lit up on the red carpet, while Sienna Miller simply wore a gold sheath dress with a bow by Gucci?

Or let’s take 2017, a year to honour Rei Kawakubo and Comme Des Garçons, whose ideology is centred entirely around challenging established notions of beauty. Katy Perry literally covered herself from head-to-toe in Maison Margiela red tulle and Solange wore what can only be described as a sleeping-bag-meets-puffer-jacket.

Lily-Rose Depp and Kendall Jenner, meanwhile, clearly didn’t get the message, with the former donning a pretty pink gown, and the latter opting for a barely-there confection by La Perla, the sole purpose of which appeared to be accentuating and drawing attention to Jenner’s conventionally attractive figure.

This year’s theme was Notes On Camp and, as explained by our lifestyle editor Ruby, that means “feathers, pink, sequins, ruffles, exaggerated sleeves…”.  It does not mean slinky metallic dresses or timeless ball gowns, regardless of how pretty they may be. 

We are living in an age of Molly Goddard, of Ashish, of Jeremy Scott, of Richard Quinn. In an age of Ru Paul, of Elton John, of Dua Lipa, of Lady Gaga. We are positively dripping in inspiration. Murdering assassin Villanelle stood utterly bold-faced in the centre of Paris in head-to-toe candy pink ruffles; never has it been more socially acceptable to douse oneself in the eccentric. 

Last night, Gaga underwent a full-on costume change- four times!-, complete with pink wagon and dancing men, live on the pink carpet; the least Natalie Morales could have done do was forego a sleek baby blue number for one night and get in touch with her fun side. If a miserable five-year-old on Toddlers and Tiaras could’ve upstaged you, then you probably should’ve tried harder.

The thing is, the Met Gala is not attended by regular human beings with jobs and lives so busy that they barely possess enough free time to let their hair dry naturally. It’s attended by some of the richest and most famous people in the world. People who have professionals practically rabid for the chance to dress them, or style their hair, or apply their makeup. They could click their fingers and demand pretty much anything, and someone, somewhere, would make it happen. So forgive me for feeling hard done by when they receive an invitation so many would die for, and don't even embrace it.

If we’re going to call out every time-poor and money-poor female university student across the globe for dressing up as a cat for Halloween, then the least we could do is call out every well-connected celebrity for failing to display at least an attempt at Met Gala originality. Because, at the end of the day, no one likes a fun sponge, and if you turned up to the Met Gala 2019 wearing something I could’ve worn to my end-of-year uni-ball, then your outfit wasn’t a costume; it was a vanity project.

Click here to see our round-up of the best dressed at Met Gala 2019.