We’ve had a year of virtual shows and postponed events, but “fashion’s biggest night out” is back for 2021!
After a five-day Fashion Week, September 13 will bring the return of the Met Gala — and it’s kicking off a two-part exhibition on American fashion. Yep, that’s right. After getting sidelined last year, the annual benefit celebration for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute is returning with not one, but two events in quick succession.
Of course, the guestlist for this year is expected to be slightly smaller. Details have not been released yet, but the Met did say it would be “more intimate” this year, and that plans are “pending government guidelines.”
Even still, all eyes will be on that red carpet as stars and fashion creatives alike are welcomed. This is considered one of the most important nights in the fashion world, after all.
Hosted by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, the event has become a literal who’s who of the fashion world. This highly anticipated event brings out some of the biggest names in fashion and entertainment.
Who else is ready to see the amazing and outrageous red carpet looks?!
The Costume Institute’s First Two-Part Exhibition
This will be the Costume Institute’s first two-part exhibition. Part one, “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” will open on September 18, 2021 in the Anna Wintour Costume Center.
It will remain on display as part two, “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” opens less than eight months later. The second exhibition will revert back to the Met Gala’s usual slot, the first Monday of May. “An Anthology of Fashion” will open on May 5, 2022, in the period rooms of the American Wing.
“In America: A Lexicon of Fashion” will examine the work of contemporary designers, and will look at the “modern vocabulary of American fashion.”
“Over the past year, because of the pandemic, the connections to our homes have become more emotional, as have those to our clothes,” said Andrew Bolton, the Costume Institute’s curator, in a press release. “For American fashion, this has meant an increased emphasis on sentiment over practicality.”
Bolton continued, “Responding to this shift, Part One of the exhibition will establish a modern vocabulary of American fashion based on the expressive qualities of clothing as well as deeper associations with issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion.”
An Anthology of Fashion
Less than eight months after Part One, the second installment will open. “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” will open on May 5, 2022. It will offer a historical perspective, going back as far as the late 1600s.
“Part Two will further investigate the evolving language of American fashion through a series of collaborations with American film directors who will visualize the unfinished stories inherent in the Met’s period rooms,” said Bolton.
Both exhibitions will remain on display at the Met until September 2022. For more information on the exhibitions, check the press release from the Met here.
The gala is held once a year and raises money for the Met’s Costume Institute. The invite-only event (with tickets starting at a whopping $35,000) is critical to the Institute’s funding. According to a press release, the Met called the annual event the Costume Institute’s “primary source of annual funding for exhibitions, publications, acquisitions, operations, and capital improvements.” In 2019, the gala event raised $15 million.
