The Met Gala this year honestly blew me away, and for all the right reasons. Whereas last year, with a poor theme came a multitude of tacky and surprisingly many cat-themed outfits; this year, a theme of Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, brought new creativity and color to the looks. A lot of this was nature-themed looks with aspects of time and more natural and picturesque outfits involved. Although there were, of course, still many people who shocked me with their inability to understand a theme, this year went well and allowed so many people a chance to prove themselves either as newcomers or to secure their spots yet again as fashion icons.
Josh O’Connor
After Josh O’Connor’s success in the recent film Challengers, where he was featured in a multitude of stylish tennis outfits, I was expecting more from his Met Gala look. As a man coming to the Met Gala, even slightly above the bare minimum of a plain black suit immediately qualifies him as one of the best dressed. Every year I complain about the same old tuxedos over and over again with the occasional outlier when someone decides they want to stray from the norm by adding a singular pop of color. They think this will somehow distract from the fact that it’s just a normal tuxedo for an event where tickets cost $75,000. Apparently, O’Connor was one of these people who decided to add one of the most hideous add-ons to an outfit I’ve seen so far with bright, splotchy, croc-like, weird, fuzzy boots as his colorful addition to an already strange tuxedo. He strutted down the runway like he was wearing a revolutionary outfit that the internet would go crazy over, and he did not deliver.
Elle Fanning
Of course, as Aurora in the live-action Sleeping Beauty, Elle Fanning had an advantage coming into the Met Gala, and, as always, she impressed. Hers was by far one of my favorite looks of the night, which is surprising considering it’s one of the simplest. The entire dress gives an appearance of ice and flowing water, and the entire thing has an aura of princess-like beauty, and it’s ethereal. The top has both straps being held up by ice-like birds in true Aurora fashion, and the bottom effortlessly flows; the accessories perfectly accentuate the look, and the makeup and hair only add to the Aurora-esque beauty she emanates.
Zoe Saldaña
Zoe Saldaña has never overly stood out in past years at the Met Gala, but this year, she really disappointed. I think the most disappointing thing about her outfit was how much potential it had to be great in so many areas, but overall, each aspect of the outfit looks wonky and like a brand promotion rather than a fashion statement. To start from the bottom up is her 2016 knee-rise, leather boots that I’m pretty sure I own in American Girl doll form; the boots maybe would’ve been fine at a dinner party eight years ago, but for the Met Gala, with this theme particularly, they look out of place and too casual. Next is the dress; similarly to how I feel about Lana Del Rey’s dress, I think that the material is a few shades too close to her skin tone, and I think all of the neutrals in her outfit really dilute her natural beauty and how much potential she has to be a showstopper. I think my least favorite part of the whole outfit, though, has to be the tacky, gold, Chloe belt. According to Saldaña, she’s been with the same stylist, Petra Flannery, for almost 20 years, and after this, I think it’s time for a change. The belt looks like something I would’ve bought off of Etsy as a fashion statement when I was 12, and given it’s the Met Gala, the awkward brand placement and promotion just feels out of place. I love how her hair and makeup were styled but the outfit dulls her and negates how much potential this had to be a great look.
Tyla
Immediately after Tyla walked the red carpet, I saw at least five videos pop up on my TikTok feed about how amazing her dress was, and I have to agree. Tyla recently won her first Grammy, and as a growing musician, this is her first year at the Met Gala. She’s earned her place in all future events. After her gorgeous dress and styling at the Grammy’s I had high expectations for her, and she surpassed them more than I ever could’ve imagined. She showed up in a beautiful floor-length dress with a long train that gave the appearance of sand falling down, and in addition, she had a cute hourglass purse. You could’ve told me they took actual sand and glued it to her skin, and I would’ve believed you. The dress is so effortlessly form-fitting, and it drapes perfectly; she even had strips of sand-like materials across her arms to give the appearance of falling sand. She embodied the theme this year, and I can’t wait to see her future looks.
Gwendoline Christie
By far, the worst Met Gala look of the year goes to Gwendoline Christie. Although I had never heard of her before, as soon as I saw her on the red carpet and saw the (horrible) photos afterward, I decided to look her up. It turns out she’s been in at least five movies I’ve seen in minor background roles I didn’t notice. At the Met Gala, however, she was anything but unnoticeable, with hair that went out a foot on either side of her head. She’s a prime example of how styling drastically changes an outfit because, although she and Zendaya share a similar tulle-striped overcoat, hers is worn in a way that makes her outfit look right out of a Spirit Halloween catalog. Her dress is a dark red velvet that is immediately contrasted with the tulle overcoat, ruining the shape and draping of the dress—if there was anything worth saving there to begin with. To even further ruin her outfit, she paired it with yellow, velvet heels, and every time I see yellow and red together, particularly the two shades she’s wearing, my mind just goes to ketchup and mustard. The outfit is a mess altogether, and I have no idea how a single person looked at it and decided it was fit for the Met Gala.
Zendaya
Zendaya is consistently known for going above and beyond in every aspect when it comes to red carpets and fashion in general. After her recent film Challengers was released, she perfectly represented the movie on her press tour in an array of tennis-themed fashion turned couture. In addition, she had my favorite look from the Oscars this year, so let’s just say that my expectations for her were higher than anyone else. When she walked the red carpet I was astounded by not only the gorgeous dress and accessorizing but also by the bold makeup she doesn’t wear often. The look wasn’t just gorgeous, but it was perfectly suited to her and definitely the most memorable of the night because of the bright coloring and the unique shape of the dress. It’s a mermaid, cut-off-the-shoulder, green dress with a tulle green and blue striped overlayer that brings out the green and makes it pop. That alone would have been enough, but she paired it with dark red makeup and nails that brought a stark contrast to the rest of her look, and along with the thin penciled-in eyebrows, she had a cold, dark look that perfectly matched the theme.
As if Zendaya’s look wasn’t enough, she showed up on the red carpet again in a different dress that again blew me away. It’s a gorgeous all-black ballgown-style dress with flowy sleeves and a corset front, and the train of the dress is long enough to drape down the entire set of stairs. As a contrast to the all-black look, she had a bouquet of flowers under a black-draping head scarf and a lighter makeup look with lightened eyebrows that made them appear almost non-existent. Both of these looks were like nothing I’d seen before, and the fact that they were so unique and different from anything else there truly made her stand out as the best of the night. The contrast between the two looks, and the smaller contrasts within them, only continue to push her to the top of the fashion game.
