Okay, okay, okay. Everybody’s been asking what I thought about the Met Gala the other night, so for whatever it’s worth, here’s my take on things.
- I was really disappointed in the men mostly totally ignoring the new dress code for wearing white tie. This seems to have been mostly mis-interpreted as either “wear a white tie” or “wear something white, like a dinner jacket.” I’m totally into breaking the rules, but if you don’t even acknowledge them in the first place then you’re hardly rebelling.
- In my mind, the two most iconic elements to Charles James’ dresses are the sculptural quality and the emphasized natural waistline, and I found these elements to be mostly missing from the ladies choices the other night. I’m ready for an emphasized waist to come back into fashion! (In other words, curves. In order to have a waist, you’ve got to have a bust and hips. The still-ideal Kate-Moss-type body does not have a waist.)
Here are my take on the winners of the night:
First Place
Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka in Thom Browne
Obviously, this is crazy. But they took the rules (“tails”) and played around with it and made it their own, and its so weird, but its wonderful. NPH wins the night.
Second Place:
Tom Ford and Benedict Cumberbatch
Tom Ford’s ivory waistcoat and tie stand out against the regulation bright white (as you can see on the playing-nicely-by-the-rules Cumberbatch), which is exactly the interesting part of having regulation dress, that any minute discrepancy becomes interesting.
Honorable Mentions:
Johnny Depp in Ralph Lauren, Carmelo Anthony, Victor Cruz, and ASAP Rocky in Topman
Other notable menswear: Johnny Depp for being a weirdo as usual, Carmelo Anthony for the midnight blue coat AND the tophat (and heck, even for going with a red carnation instead of white), Victor Cruz for the shoes, and ASAP Rocky for trying out a frock coat.
Disqualifications:
These guys were all wearing tails, so I give them points for trying. But then they all get disqualified for having their waistcoats stick out so far underneath their coats. This comes from wearing low-rise trousers, which I recognize are fashionable, but if you’re going to wear formalwear, you might as well get it right.
Andy Cohen, Kanye West in Lanvin, John Legend and David Lauren in Ralph Lauren.
These are also pretty good examples of what you get in even an expensive off-the-peg jacket. Because tailcoats are worn unbuttoned, you run the risk of having the front pieces sticking out away from your body (as you can see), but a bespoke suit is tailored to hug the chest so that doesn’t happen. Here, Fred will demonstrate a perfectly fitting set of tails:
Don’t even talk to me:
Here are my grand disappointments for the evening: the interpretation of “white tie” as “anything white” – which in a white dinner jacket means you’re actually going LESS formal than a standard tuxedo instead of MORE formal:
David Beckham in Ralph Lauren, Thakoon, Riccardo Tisci, Joshua Jackson, JayZ in Givenchy, Hugh Jackman, Future, Frank Ocean in Givenchy
And the “hey, I’m wearing a white tie, doesn’t that count?” crowd:
Seth Meyers, Darren Le Gallo, and Kenneth Cole
And, briefly, here are my Top 5 favorites from the women:
Sarah Silverman in Zac Posen
Karolína Kurková in Marchesa
Arizona Muse in Ralph & Russo
Hayden Panettiere in Dennis Basso
Suki Waterhouse in Burberry Prorsum
I thought all of these were not only beautiful gowns, but also the best in keeping with the theme of Charles James. I’m really looking forward to seeing the actual show at the Met when I get back to New York!
