Capsule #97 ft. Hatti Rex

Hello hello,

Hope everyone is feeling good!

This week’s letter is a pre-read ahead of the Met Gala on Monday. It will be much more fun to weigh in on the fashion if we have a grounding on the theme!

And as ever, a great Hot & Not from Hatti Rex, other Capsule news from this week, and some recs for the weekend ahead.

You’ll next hear from me on Tuesday, post-Met. Until then!

Holly x

📚📖♡⋆ ˚｡ Your Met Gala pre-read ⋆˙⟡🪶─ .✦📜⊹₊ ݁.

My loves, it’s that time of year. Our invitation to once again resume our roles as armchair critics. To comment proudly on outfits we will never wear at an event we’ll never attend. Such fun!!! 

The Met Gala is on Monday, and Capsule will be a little different next week. Instead of the usual Friday issue, I’ll drop into your inbox on Tuesday with a debrief on the event. I encourage you to write back with your views!

But in order to properly weigh in on it all, we’ll need to get accustomed with the theme. Consider this our homework. Armchair criticism is very serious after all… 

🏛️ The Exhibition 

As you might know, the Met Gala is a fancy event to raise money for and promote the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Most of us agree that it’s the “biggest night in fashion,” because as far as red carpet effort goes, and star-studded guest lists, this is just about as big as it gets. 

The Costume Institute's Spring Exhibition that the Met Gala promotes is this year called ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,’ and it explores “the importance of sartorial style to the formation of Black identities.” The show is inspired by Guest Curator Monica L. Miller’s 2009 book, Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, and chronicles the ways in which Black people have used fashion to transform their identities and imagine new ways of being.

So clearly the main focus is on Black Dandyism. Just so we’re all on the same page, a dandy is “a man who places particular importance on physical appearance and personal grooming, refined language and leisurely hobbies.” A well-dressed man who cares about style and how he shows up in the world. 

But in the context of Black history, it’s not just clothing for clothing’s sake. This is strategic dressing, one of the core ways in which Black people could historically impact how they are treated by the rest of the world. Sasha Mistlin writes for the Guardian:

Some examples of Black dandies in history, and some contemporary dandyism: 

🔎 A closer look at the theme 

Per the Met’s website, the Gala dress code is “Tailored for You,” a nod to the exhibition’s focus on suiting and menswear. Something I think will be important in the interpretation of the theme is the fact that the Superfine exhibition is organised into 12 sections: Ownership, Presence, Distinction, Disguise, Freedom, Champion, Respectability, Jook (a West Indian verb meaning to pierce, poke, or stab), Heritage, Beauty, Cool, and Cosmopolitanism. 

Together, these characteristics explore the different ways in which the Black diaspora have shown up in history, from assimilation through to resistance. What does it mean to try and fit in? What does carving your own identity look like? Who gets to do it? 

In a way, the theme this year is really about the purpose of style itself. It affirms fashion’s role as inherently political, arguing in favour of the notion that clothing really does mean something beyond practical uses. When you look at it like that, it seems like anything could go on the red carpet. But I’m interested in the call to be personal - “Tailored for You” obviously refers to fit and tailoring, but the exhibition context also calls for an outfit that’s tailored to needs of the individual. What message do they need to share? What kind of identity markers do they want to show through clothing? Put simply, how do they want to be perceived? 

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Key people 

Each year the Met Gala selects co-chairs to help promote the event and plan its theme, dinner, and performances. This year’s co-chairs (alongside Anna Wintour) are Colman Domingo (slay), Lewis Hamilton (underrated fashion icon), A$AP Rocky (obviously), and Pharrell Williams (the ubiquitous), plus LeBron James, who they’re calling an “honorary chair”. 

This year, in addition to the co-chairs, The Met will revive the tradition of a “Host Committee,” made up of actors, artists, athletes, designers, filmmakers, musicians, and writers, to support the evening’s festivities. 

That’s a really long list of people, and includes: André 3000, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens, Grace Wales Bonner, Dapper Dan, Doechii, Ayo Edebiri, Edward Enninful, Jeremy O. Harris, Regina King, Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee, Audra McDonald, Janelle Monáe, Jeremy Pope, Angel Reese, Sha'Carri Richardson, Olivier Rousteing, Tyla, USHER, and Kara Walker.

Great list! Did Solange decline? 👀

👀 Other stuff we know and a bit of speculation… 

• Burberry is taking Law Roach to the Met 

• …which means Zendaya is going without him. How nice would it be to see Tom Holland on the carpet 

• Some more alleged attendees… surely Rihanna will return this year

• Gassed for Chappell Roan’s first Met 

• From that list, also excited to see what Miley pulls out of the bag given her current run of outfits

• Other names to watch: Doja Cat, Emma Chamberlain, Tyla, Bad Bunny, Addison Rae

• Will we see Beyoncé and Blue Ivy?

• Personally hoping for a Kylie x Timothée moment

• And of course Kim K is prepping in this way

💭 Closing thoughts

Two things to take into Monday’s event:

1. As Ayo Edebiri said to GQ, not everyone at this event is Black, but the theme provides an opportunity to learn, and “connect to each other, to each other’s humanity, to each other’s art.”

2. And as Monica L. Miller (the author of Superfine) told the Guardian: “There’s a sense in which the exhibition is a distillation of the really important moves Black designers have made in recent years.” She’s exactly right — so much of the exciting fashion of the past decade particularly is fuelled by Black talent. Without people like Grace Wales Bonner, Telfar Clemens, Martine Rose, LaQuan Smith and Tolu Coker, we’d be much worse off. That’s worth celebrating.

And finally…

News from the rest of the Capsule universe this week:

• The Cowboy Carter tour started and Beyoncé brought Blue and Rumi on stage. There’s probably a complex point to be made about kids working but I’m distracted by Rumi’s excitement 🥺

• The new Lorde album is called Virgin and comes out on June 27th. Here’s the cover. The first ever IUD on an album cover…one of the most hidden yet prolific parts of our generation

• …and someone almost predicted the concept

• Riding the high of the moment: Gracie Abrams covered ‘Liability’ by Lorde in New Zealand

• Even more Charli xcx film news

• Should we send the Capsule friendship issue to this man?

• Another corporate cosplay ad campaign but at least we have the commute?

• Big pre-Met Gala energy here

• And Clairo’s Apple dance at the Brat tour in NYC was fun and also… sponsored by Aperol. The spirit of Kris Jenner is with us x

This week, Hatti Rex popped into Capsule to share what’s 🔥hot🔥 and what’s not 🙅‍♀️ …

Hatti is a freelance socials consultant and writer, contributing editor at Polyester Zine, side quest enjoyer and former baby. She has nothing to promote other than her existence.

📺 Watching: The Four Seasons on Netflix, and some live performances for the season: Lizzy McAlpine performing ‘Spring Into Summer’ in Boston, and in guilty pleasure mode, Role Model performing ‘Sally, When the Wine Runs Out’ on Jimmy Fallon.

📖 Reading: This great old Haley Nahman essay about crying at marathons, and Emma Garland’s excellent return to ‘Backshots,’ her newsletter column dedicated to explaining why sex symbols are hot. This time the microscope was on Olly Murs, after that before and after gym transformation photo and the discourse that followed.

🎧 Listening to: Bloodless, the excellent new Samia album, I Don’t Know How But They Found Me!, the new Jensen McRae album, and the 10 year anniversary edition of Peripheral Vision by Turnover - perfect for your park blanket.

If you feel like you’re seeing ballet sneakers everywhere, that’s not surprising! Rodney has the rundown for you: “ballet sneakers” and “ballerina sneakers” are being searched more than ever before, with top interest in the Adidas Taekwondo Mei Ballet, the Adidas Bad Bunny ballerina, the Nike Air Rift, and the Puma Speedcat Ballet. Also interesting to note that people searching for ballet sneakers have also searched for Adidas Sambas and Tabi sneakers in the past. The trend cycle lives on!

If you’d like to adopt Rodney or one of his friends, click here to learn more.

Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear how you’re finding Capsule - let me know here. And if you have a friend who might like it, do refer them! 🥺

See you next week 💋

In some of the products we recommend, we may earn a small affiliate commission. We only ever recommend things we genuinely like and would buy, and this small revenue driver goes directly towards keeping Capsule going. Thank you for the support. 🫶