Coverage of Monday night’s Met Gala was everywhere this year, wasn’t it?. I don’t ever remember the ball getting quite this much play on social media before.
I mean, maybe I was living under a rock at the time. Or maybe the gala was just more controversial this time around. Or it could have all been because of that scrambled egg cape/dress thing Rihanna had on. I don’t know. But here’s what I do know about 2015’s Met Ball, in case you’re subletting my basement rock apartment from last year:
It’s “The Fashion Oscars”
The Met Gala, or “Met Ball,” used to be called the Costume Institute Gala. It’s an annual fundraising event for NYC’s Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, and marks the grand opening of the Costume Institute’s annual fashion exhibit. The best designers and most eager fashionistas use the event to fash shit up, for better or worse, while the world watches on.
The Met Gala: A Red Carpet ReviewAll the Wild, Potentially Disastrous and Boring Gowns of Met Gala 2015
Celebrities at the Met Gala, In Order of Increasing Nakedness
The Met Gala Has a Theme Every Year
This year, because the museum was celebrating its China: Through the Looking Glass exhibition, that theme was, put loosely, “Wear Something Chinese.” Twitter reacted exactly like you’d expect. And at least one fashion writer (Fawnia Soo Hoo, a Chinese American) took issue with a few of the ways the gala’s celebrities interpreted the theme.
People are Furious about This Year’s “Borderline Rascist” Met Gala ThemeThe Most Questionable Interpretations of the Met Gala’s Chinese Theme
Social Media Was Banned
This year’s gala and theme is being turned into a documentary. Producers Condé Nast Entertainment and Vogue invited 225 approved photographers, reporters and social media participants to collect pictures and quotes for the documentary, while all the other guests were forbidden from using social media. Even for seflies. Spoiler Alert: It didn’t work.
27 Instagram Photos that Prove the Met Ball’s Social Media Ban Didn’t Work
Things Rihanna’s Dress Looked Like
A fried egg. A banana. A pizza. An omelette. A condom.
The Internet Has Reacted Hilariously to Rihanna’s Met Gala Dress
If you want to read more about the celebs and fashion, Vogue’s homepage is pretty much all about the Met Gala right now. They’ve got a slideshow of their picks for best dressed, this roundup of 15-second Vine-style videos, and this really cool piece where they invited Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York to do his thing at the ball.
