Met Gala Dress Code

The Met Gala red carpet theme, to coincide with the exhibit opening this year is Fashion is Art.

As I have explained in this post…

Costume Art

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May 1

It’s almost Met Gala Monday! And the first thing one asks when hearing about The Met Gala is always, “what is the theme?”

The theme this year explores fashion as a true art form, connecting clothing with paintings, sculptures, and history. The idea is truly that the cruciality of the dressed body, and that the body (in all its forms) plus clothing creates living art.

The body is the canvas for this art form. Clothing is not just decoration but a way to transform the body, and into art.

It celebrates and places a spotlight on the connection between clothing and the body as well as the ways in which fashion has become an indelible form of artistic expression of humanity and the human form.

I am thinking and hoping we will see a lot of the following possibilities on the red carpet come this Monday:

A focus on body oddy oddy

So many designers come to mind when we think of the body as the central form of a house aesthetic.

I do think we will see a major return to sheer, and nude illusion gowns.

I believe we will see lots of sculptural (a double entendre) pieces, and even some that change how we see the shape of the body. I could see such sculpted garments (I considered a gown for myself that looked like a marble sculpture I just did not think I could sit in it for my panel discussion!) that challenge traditional proportions. I think we will see looks that’s size and scale are designed to look like a museum installation instead of clothing in a nod to the nature of the evening. And we have so many runway pieces to pull from with an anatomical point of view.

Some designers that come to mind when I think of the body as Alaïa, Daniel Roseberry for Schiaparelli (highlight not only the body, but anatomy and other worldy creatures), Weiderhoeft (an outfit from them was on my potential list!!), Demna at Balenciaga, vintage Mugler, Comme des Garçons. I could see some very interesting and poignant stories being told through the use of Iris van Herpen’s work and her focus on anatomy of all creatures.

Fashion as art

I predict we will also see a lot of attendees going the route of fashion as art. I see this taking shape through theatrical, emotional ensembles that blur the line between fashion and performance. I am expecting unconventional materials, conceptual designs over traditionally glamorous gowns and intricate textiles and craftsmanship to highlight the garments as second skins, or living canvases.

Some designers that come to mind when I think of this are Robert Wun, again, Schiaparelli, Rahul Mishra, Iris Van Herpen, and Margiela.

I am crossing all my fingers and toes we see this look on Monday! This look from Amit Aggarwal walked in India Couture Week in 2025. It was from a collection focusing on organic futurism, mapping the human form through the use of pleats, spirals and metallic fabrications. The look was inspired by vascular architecture and biological systems, and was intended to look like a moving installation rather than just clothing. The body as art, as living, breathing art.

In January I was at Paris Couture week and had the privilege of siting front and center (row) at Gaurav Gupta’s couture show. Titled the Divine Androgyne this show brings us many possibilities from Met Monday.

From the brand themselves, could this (above) be a more perfect fit, pun intended?

Miss Sohee’s Couture Spring 2025 collection began as a journey of discovery, inspired by classical and modern sculptures. The esence of couture lies in its ability to transcend the boundary between fashion and art. The surreal shapes I sculpt on the body are drawn from natural objects, and leather has became one of my sculptural mediums, while elements of my inaugural collection are reimagined with a fresh perspective.

Art inspired fashion

Lastly, I think we can safely be expecting pieces from the annals of fashion history that reference and draw inspiration from iconic art pieces.

Some designers and collections that come to mind here are Jeremy Scott for Moschino, specifically the spring/summer 2020 art and Picasso themed looks. (I called him about these exact pieces for myself).

Vintage YSL has many examples. In the 40 years that Yves Saint Laurent helmed his own namesake label, the designer was known to take inspiration from his love or art. So many of his collections were defined by the deep and frequent integration of high art. From the 1960s to early 2000s so many masterpieces of wearable fashion walked the YSL runways. Fall/winter 1965 was when we got the famous “Mondrian” collection. 106 designs inspired by the Dutch painter’s geometric grid paintings. During the 70s we saw inspiration from Chinese art, allusions to the bohemian era and style of Paloma Piccaso, and a historically significant collecting that evoked the Russian ballet and Diaghilev. In 1988 there were Georgeo Braque and Cubism references. Spring/summer 1998 included intricate beaded and sequined jackets such as Sunflowers and Irises which were all tributes to Vincent Van Gogh. The “Homage to Pablo Picasso” collection. The 1996 Pop Art collection that featured designs referencing Tom Wesselmann’s Great American Nudes. And my favorite the bright colors and patterns inspired by fauvism and Henri Matisse in the 1980s.

Saint Laurent’s successors also shared his fondness for art and we could also expect to see archival pulls from later years that also have strong art ties.

Gaultier. We have already seen Chappel Roan wear the archival Spring 2003 couture look that pulls from Edgar Degas’ Dancer with a Bouquet Bowing so, I doubt we will see it come Monday, but I love a good rewear and this is a perfect pull.

The Dior fall/winter 2007 couture runway show has a reference that I would scream to see on the steps of the Met.

This look feels like a clear reinterpretation of one of Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Bust of a Woman. And while I know Zendaya is not attending, she would kill in this look.

I could see some of our fav men in pop culture in a pull from the Fall 2006 Jacquemus runway that referenced Le Clown by Pablo Picasso.

Cardi B has already done Thierry Mugler to a degree no one else maybe ever can, but of course, his Fall 1995 couture show with its The Birth of Venus by Botticelli gets honorable mention here in possibilities-land.

I would be remiss not to say bring me ANYTHING Alexander McQueen, but notably the 2010 Angles and Demons collection that heavily featured Botticelli angels.

Alexander McQueen’s final and post humus fall/winter 2010-2011 collection “Angels & Demons” merged Botticelli-inspired ethereal beauty with dark, religious iconography. It was a small, 16 look collection that juxtaposed Botticelli’s angels with Hieronymus Bosch’s demons in a light vs. dark contrast.

And now for some manifestation from me to the stylists of every starter out there.

IMAGINE IF SOMEONE WAS ABLE TO GET THE ALEXANDER MCQUEEN SPRING 1990 SPRAY PAINTED DRESS OUT OF THE MET COLLECTION AND WEAR IT. AND YES, I AM SCREAMING AT THIS THOUGHT. I HOPE WITH MY WHOLE FASHION SOUL THIS HAPPENS.

McQueen’s Spring 1999 show was a moment that changed fashion. A McQueen runway show was always an experience. Every one was pure theater.

But this was next level. Shalow Harlow, a trained ballet dancer and model standing on a wooden turntable, while two programmed machines spray painted her live on the runway with black and neon yellow paint. After so many pieces had walked the runway in very unMcQueen like fashion; serene, ruffled, romantic lace this was a jarring display. When the robots came alive it shocked everyone in attendance, and even as I watch it after all these years it still gives me chills. Living art, living as created, as worn, as experienced.

This video here is amazing if you don’t know the lore and legacy of this dress to fully understand what this moment in fashion history was.

And speaking of McQueen… but of his tenure at Givenchy….

The Met Gala after parties are becoming such a necessary second look at this point and I think we might get someone changing into the mini dress from Spring 1998 Givenchy haute couture that is reminiscent of The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katushika Hokusai. Or maybe even on the red carpet on a young starlet willing to go cocktail.

Are there any looks you think we might see? Or vintage finds you are hoping to see on the carpet?

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