By Madeleine Stiffler
Taking place on September 13, 2021, Hollywood A-listers (and C-listers) gathered together at the Met Gala in New York City to express their sense of fashion and fundraise through “Celebrating In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.”
The complex theme was certainly difficult for many celebrities to grasp. Rather than “A Lexicon of Fashion” it was more so “A Lexicon of Whatever you Want to Wear.” Now when a theme is not followed, corresponding outfits, colors, embellishments, and so on start to get messy. Walking the cream-colored carpet in the center of the Met, celebrities like Kaia Gerber, Gigi Hadid, Keke Palmer, and Yara Shahidi understood the assignment. Whether they were decked out in diamonds or paying homage to Golden Age heroine’s, these ladies were star-studded and they certainly stole the show at the 2021 Met. An honorable mention for best-dressed also goes to Iman, who graced her audience with a fabulous avant-garde fluttery golden dress and headpiece. But, we all know that as a fashion icon Iman never fails to impress.
However, moving on to the less best-dressed celebrities and then some, does anyone know what Addison Rae was attempting to pull off? Perhaps she was inspired by Kourtney Kardashian’s 2019 Christmas dress? Nevertheless, Rae’s form-fitting red dress was stunning, but she could have done so much more with her glam and outfit to make a statement. Next up, Ciara went above and beyond in admiration of a sport many Americans love: football. Undoubtedly, it was difficult to miss her lime green shimmery dress and while there was an attempt at fitting the theme, she missed the mark. The Met Gala is no place to turn a football jersey into a dress. Everyone loves Timothee Chalamet, but his attempted fashion statement with the Converse high-tops was not a success. Fortunately though, Chalamet rarely has fashion mishaps, so his Chuck Taylor moment will have to be swept under the rug for now.
The Met Gala this year had a ton of potential and it would have been great to see celebrities take more (or less) creative liberty with their looks. Attending the Met is all about standing out, but that does not go without saying there is absolutely a right and wrong way to do so. Whatever your stance on fashion is and whichever celebrity was best-dressed or worst-dressed in your opinion, it can be agreed upon that the 2021 Met Gala did not meet the expectations. Let’s try again in 2022 when we will be met with “An Anthology of Fashion.”