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The Met Gala, or When Fashion Consumes Art The Met Gala, or When Fashion Consumes Art
(4 days later)
The Met Gala began in 1948 as a $50 fund-raising dinner. Today its tickets cost $50,000 and, like Coachella or Art Basel, its ostensible occasion — an exhibition opening at the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute — has largely disappeared in the flash and bright lights of media spectacle.The Met Gala began in 1948 as a $50 fund-raising dinner. Today its tickets cost $50,000 and, like Coachella or Art Basel, its ostensible occasion — an exhibition opening at the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute — has largely disappeared in the flash and bright lights of media spectacle.
The fanfare surrounding the event takes center stage: celebrity selfies, red-carpet gossip and attention-seeking fashion stunts. Whether attendees know anything about the show they are there to honor is beside the point.The fanfare surrounding the event takes center stage: celebrity selfies, red-carpet gossip and attention-seeking fashion stunts. Whether attendees know anything about the show they are there to honor is beside the point.
The Met Gala is perhaps the most high-profile example of a much broader phenomenon: the accelerating convergence of art and fashion. It epitomizes the rewards, as well as the risks, that come with this marriage of aesthetic industries — mainstream visibility and financial gain on the one hand, and the reshaping influence of success on the other.The Met Gala is perhaps the most high-profile example of a much broader phenomenon: the accelerating convergence of art and fashion. It epitomizes the rewards, as well as the risks, that come with this marriage of aesthetic industries — mainstream visibility and financial gain on the one hand, and the reshaping influence of success on the other.
At first glance, the event appears to offer nothing but benefits. Each May, Anna Wintour, the longtime editor of Vogue, brings the glamour and excitement of celebrity-fueled fashion to the Met’s hallowed halls, while the museum steeps fashion in the august trappings of timeless art. The event is a boon to both. It raises millions for the Costume Institute at the Met ($17.4 million last year) and generates more “media impact value” than the Super Bowl. For fashion, there is no greater showcase. In 2019, when he was the Louis Vuitton chief executive, Michael Burke called the Met Gala “the pinnacle of our business.”At first glance, the event appears to offer nothing but benefits. Each May, Anna Wintour, the longtime editor of Vogue, brings the glamour and excitement of celebrity-fueled fashion to the Met’s hallowed halls, while the museum steeps fashion in the august trappings of timeless art. The event is a boon to both. It raises millions for the Costume Institute at the Met ($17.4 million last year) and generates more “media impact value” than the Super Bowl. For fashion, there is no greater showcase. In 2019, when he was the Louis Vuitton chief executive, Michael Burke called the Met Gala “the pinnacle of our business.”
The confluence of art and fashion at the Met Gala and elsewhere has far-reaching ramifications. Each field has begun to see itself anew. Art, having never achieved such mass relevance, wonders whether it might descend from its ivory tower and become genuinely popular. Fashion, unused to such high-culture cred, wonders if it might win new seriousness and cachet in the public eye. Inspired by these potentials, each side turns more ardently to the promise implicit in the other.
This cross-pollination has a long history. At the dawn of the 20th century, Paul Poiret, “the king of fashion,” enlisted artists to create his textile patterns, fashion illustrations and business stationery. Elsa Schiaparelli collaborated with Salvador Dalí on several iconic designs, including the “shoe hat” and “lobster dress” of 1937. Christian Dior ran an art gallery before becoming a fashion designer and later named his dresses “Matisse,” “Braque,” “Dalí” and “Picasso.”