Met Gala through the eyes of a Theme Party Stickler

photo by Melinda Caliendo

I'll start this post with two truths about me:
1. I'm a stickler for theme parties. If you are too cool to participate fully in the theme of the party, be it a costume or a menu item, you're too cool to attend. Period.
2. Despite being best known for the combination of sport sandals and basketball shorts, I am passionate about fashion. Ever since I watched my Grandma sew dress up clothes for me and my playmates I have loved the challenge of not only expressing oneself through clothing, but making that clothing (or jewelry or hair accessory) to my own specifications.

These two truths lead me to my point: If you do not follow the theme of the Met Costume Institute gala, donate the $15,000 it costs to attend and stay home. I would give my left foot for the ability to attend the ball, but apparently some who are lucky enough to go decide that they are above dressing for the occasion.


This year, the gala and the following exhibit honor Charles James, an eccentric British designer who made his name in Chicago and New York designing architecturally-stunning ball gowns until his death in 1978. It takes all of five minutes on the Voguepedia (I love that this even exists) to discover that James signature style were gowns that defied physics with sculptural details, yet still were draped so delicately as to accentuate the female figure. This is a legitimate opportunity to wear a Cinderella-style ball gown -- why miss out on that?

 

All photos from Jezebel.com

This year's screen darling, Lupita Nyong'o, always looks impeccable, but that does not excuse her from the dress code. Darling, Charles James was a child in the roaring twenties -- Flappers need not apply!
 
And even if you're the one sending out the invites that certainly doesn't preclude you from participating. I'm looking at you, Anna Wintour. Thank goodness your daughter, Bee Shaffer, got it right. Her dress looks straight out of the exhibit ... that has your name on it!
 
In terms of who got it right, I applaud a diverse group of ladies, staring with the young starlet Hailee Steinfeld. Her dress has a distinctly modern feel, but channels James' "Four Leaf Clover" design impeccably.  The Prabal Gurung (center) dress is age appropriate, sculptural and even incorporates James' signature black wave running through the dress.

Jessica Pare, Zoe Saldana and Greta Gerwig also did architectural black-and-white, incorporating Jamesian touches in the bodice, poufs and draping, respectively. (Jezebel.com did a great job of pairing red carpet photos together -- thank you, Jez!) Pare and Saldana are wearing Michael Kors, and Gerwig is wearing Oliver Theyskens.

And finally my favorite dresses from the evening. These ladies (or their stylists) really went for the gold with the theme of the event. Karolina Kurkova, who would look statuesque in a mu mu, is in an incredible Marchesa gown. GOWN. BALL GOWN. FOR WEARING TO A BALL. LIKE THE MET GALA. Sorry. Liu Wen and Dita von Teese both wore Zac Posen gowns that likely both require a team of handlers to use the restroom, but are stunning and look like they were pulled straight from the Charles James archives. They win. They win the night.

Photo from Huffington Post.

If, by some fate, I had the opportunity to attend the Met Gala last weekend, I would have likely opted for a gown that mimicked or updated this James classic:

The ability to sit down or walk or move through doorways would be limited, but it would be so worth it. Lord knows it would need to be in a different color, not only since yellow makes me look jaundiced but the possibility of me spilling on a dress that light in color is exponentially higher than me spilling on a darker dress.

I know there is a whole political back story to who gets invited to the Met Gala, who wears what designer, which dress the stylists pick out for the stars and so on, but I have to believe that when Wintour and the rest of the gala's chair people send out the invitations, they must be hoping like hell that no one goes too far off the reservation. And with a theme like Charles James, who would want to?