The 2021 Met Gala’s Winners

The Met Gala – one of fashion’s biggest and starriest events – has rolled out its red carpet in New York for some of the planet’s best-known celebrities.

Tickets are $35,000 each and the event is held to raise funds for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, the Gala returns after being cancelled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This year’s Met Gala was a smaller, more intimate affair due to the ongoing pandemic, with only about a third of the usual guest list invited to participate in fashion’s biggest night. But even so, there was certainly no shortage of major Americana fashions gracing the red carpet. This year’s Gala theme is “American Independence” which gave attendees a wide berth of ideas to play with from founding fathers in powdered wigs and star-spangled gowns, to Lady Liberty cosplay and, of course, all things red, white, and blue. Given that the exhibit accompanying the event is 70% young American designers, most of whom have never even been invited to the Gala let alone shown in a museum, the guest list also featured Gen Z tastemakers, including the evening’s co-chairs Timothée Chalamet, Billie Eilish, Amanda Gorman, and Naomi Osaka.

The curator of the Met’s Costume Institute, Andrew Bolton, said that he felt it was time to reexamine American identity through the lens of recent social justice movements. “I’ve been really impressed by American designers’ responses to the social and political climate, particularly around issues of body inclusivity and gender fluidity, and I’m just finding their work very, very self-reflective,” he said. “I really do believe that American fashion is undergoing a renaissance.” And here are some of the biggest celebrities of the night who proved that patriotic looks really can go beyond just stars and stripes.

Like always, the star-studded guest list are dressed by designers, who’ve interpret a certain theme, which this year is “In America: The lexicon of fashion”. Talking of the theme, Andrew Bolton, the Wendy Yu Curator in Charge of the Costume Institute, believes “American fashion is undergoing a renaissance” due to social justice and political movements of recent years, making it the right “time to reexamine American identity and fashion” now.

This idea is further shown in this year’s choice of cochairs – Timothée Chalamet, Billie Eilish, Amanda Gorman, and Naomi Osaka who represent a younger generation who want to make a change for the better. As Vogue dictates trends and sets agendas, 2021’s red carpet is one that embraces diversity, inclusivity, transparency and sustainability.

Roll on 2022!