And This Year's Met Gala Theme Is...
Yesterday may have been "Nerd Prom" (the White House Correspondent's Dinner even if it was sans White House) but tonight is "Fashion Prom". The first Monday of May is the biggest night of fashion - the Met Ball Gala. You know you've made it in the fashion world if Anna Winter deigns you worthy of joining the star-studded fête.
This year's gala focused Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo - only the second living designer honored since Yves Saint Laurent in 1983. The accompanying exhibit at the Met in New York City is titled "Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between".
Kawakubo is one of few major female designers and she owns her line. She founded Comme des Garçons in 1973, focusing on austere "anti-fashion", earning her followers in Japan the nickname "the Crows". In an age of sensationalized fashion shows and social media sweetheart designers (looking at you Jeremy Scott, Marc Jacobs and Olivier Rousteing) Kawakubo has remained an enigmatic figure mostly out of the public eye.
Comme des Garçons is most well known for its heart-with-peeping-eyes logo that can be found on Converse and striped t-shirts. In 2008, the brand collaborated with H&M for a limited edition collection.
Kawakubo's collections exist in their own parallel universe with little explanation or ties to the real world. Deliciously aloof and untethered, they are sculptural explorations of shape, color and texture that answer to no one.
The exhibit, curated by Met' Costume Exhibit Curator Andrew Bolton, features nearly 150 ensembles based on eight themes: (1) fashion/antifashion; (2) design/not design; (3) model/multiple; (4) then/now; (5) high/low; (6) self/other; (7) object/subject; and (8) clothes/not clothes.
According to Vogue, the installation took a year to plan and 69 days to construct and install.
Feature image via
