Capsule #48: The Great Met Gala Debrief

Hello my loves, 

Here we are landing in your inbox a little early. There will be no issue on Friday this week, to make way for today’s Met Gala debrief. The internet has primed us to expect responses quickly, and while I often use this space to rally against that a bit, this is a special occasion. And for full transparency, I’m on holiday in Mallorca and will go insane if I give myself until Friday to make edits on this. So here we are!

I’d love to hear any of your thoughts – favourite looks, general comments on the state of the event, something you felt was missing. (It’s Rihanna). If you hit reply to this email your message will find me. 🫶

Enjoy your week! And scroll to the end for a surprise.

Holly x

But first, the theme.

The Met Gala is an event to raise funds for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. This year’s new exhibition is called Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, a nod to the delicate garments from the past four centuries. These are pieces that can no longer be worn because they are too fragile, and the exhibition will “breathe new life” into them using technology like AI, CGI, and soundscapes. 

The theme for the dress code for the actual event is connected but not the same: “The Garden of Time,” a title taken from a JG Ballard short story of the same name. 

You can read the story here. It’s short! But the TLDR: 

• Count and Countess Axel (wealthy af) live in a wondrous villa surrounded by a time garden, which contains crystalline flowers that rewind time when picked  

• One evening, while wifey is playing Mozart on her harpsichord, the Count spots an enormous angry mob approaching. They look gross, with “ragged uniforms,” like a Goya painting 

• You guessed it: the couple uses the time flowers to keep the army at bay. Rinse and repeat this as they buy a few days extra with each flower 

• But the supply dwindles and isn’t replenishing. The Count and Countess must face their fate. They spend their final day preening the villa before picking the last flower

• The army finally breaches the villa’s defences, and the couple have their final embrace as darkness falls

• When the mob arrives, it’s years later and the villa lies in ruins, crumbled and overgrown with weeds. The only part of the garden that survives is a thicket of thorn bushes, which conceals two stone statues - the Count and Countess - frozen in a moment of time

So we’re dealing with some classic themes in art: beauty and decay, the impact of time on the natural world, the inevitability of death. But this is also a story about the power of a working class uprising. It’s not just time that takes the Count and Countess out of their paradise, it’s people. Poor, angry ones. Commentators will no doubt point out the irony of this story against the backdrop of the issues of today. Pro-Palestinian protestors arrested at Columbia University are just a 9-minute Uber away from the Met. Many of the Condé Nast Union members, who secured a tentative agreement just hours before the event, work a 13-minute Uber away at the World Trade Center.

That uncomfortable irony can be swept under the rug by the vagueness of the theme if taken at face value. We could call pretty much anything a “Garden of Time” if we tried. My face with yesterday’s makeup after falling asleep with it on? A Garden of Time. Years of recommendations embedded in the girls’ group chat? A Garden of Time. You get the point. Either Anna Wintour expects guests to take the theme at this surface level of symbolism (which we’ve seen before with poor attempts at being on theme), or she willingly brings a class tale to the fore and… Does not feel awkward? This is how society works, right? 

I’m always torn on these things, and I think most of us usually land with the acceptance that two things can be true at once. There is a lot of bad stuff happening right now. But we also live in a time of major celebrity and fashion fandom, and this is our main event. And for a huge portion of people across the world, the event is not a barometer for political issues or society at large, it’s the moment we collectively assume our roles as armchair critics and sound off in the comments and our group chats. I think that’s okay. 

And now, the clothes. 

So many people were in John Galliano or Alexander McQueen. We’ve said it before, but there really isn’t anyone coming close to the theatricality of these designers today. Here are some of the best:

Another look that really made me feel something: Emma Chamberlain in Jean Paul Gaultier. Perfectly on theme, complete with neck-crawling bramble.

Next thing to know: lots of really insane sculptural pieces. This stuff just rocks because it feels so special - we don’t see it everyday, and if we do it’s more likely in a gallery or a museum.

And the one you have to see in a video: Mona Patel in Iris Van Herpen, styled by Law Roach. Those butterflies are moving 🦋

@alexander_foung

Mona Patel at #metgala gown by Iris van Herpen #metgala2024

Next up: two white t-shirt concepts. I actually love both of these. Charli XCX is wearing a custom Marni gown made from vintage tees from the 50s, 60s and 70s, and Doja Cat is in Vetements. It’s just a t-shirt, people said. Do better. But she looks like a garden sculpture, which I can really get behind.

Not quite a white t-shirt but in the same ilk, Da’Vine Joy Randolph wore a custom Zac Posen dress made of denim. He’s creative director at Gap now, which is where the inspiration came from. I think it works — denim has longevity, we need to be doing more to rework it given its environmental footprint, and I love Da’Vine with red hair.

Now while we got lots of archival pulls, the majority of looks were still new, custom pieces. That’s normal for the Met, but it meant this look by Dilara Findikoglu for Chloë Sevigny felt even more impressive. It’s custom, yes, but made entirely from deconstructed Victorian garments, embellished with mourning hair flowers.

And now. These are some lovely ladies but I don’t get what the Chloé girl tribe was trying to do, other than evoke Taylor Swift’s ‘Bad Blood’ era. This felt like a pure ad for the new season Chloé, which is beautiful, and I guess the sleeves are whimsical, but we could have seen it at literally any event. Like, even the launch of a new lipstick, these looks would work. Would have loved to see more wilted rose and vampy lip from Sienna Miller, and for Emma Mackey to do something a bit weird.

Some kudos next for excellent men! First up, Colman Domingo in custom Willy Chavarria. A perfect pairing, the proportions are great, and it’s made all the better by how happy he was in red carpet interviews, crediting his late style heroes, André Leon Talley and Chadwick Boseman.

Next up, Lewis Hamilton. I don’t usually pay much attention to this man I will be honest, but his look and the concept got me. He’s wearing custom Burberry, but the details matter.

On the inside, a quote from Alex Wharton's poem 'The Gardener' was embroidered:

The poem is inspired by John Ystumllyn, one of Britain's first Black gardeners and the earliest well-recorded Black person in North Wales.

And Wisdom Kaye, who you might recognise from style videos on TikTok. Here in custom Robert Wun, that shade of red we’ve come to know the designer for, looking fire. In a sea of shimmering gowns, I waited around on the livestream to see who this was. A serve!

Now I was pleased to see someone in the Undercover dress used as the image to advertise the new Sleeping Beauties exhibition. And that someone is Amelia Gray.

It’s one of the most on-theme looks of the night, evoking the translucent petals of the time flowers in The Garden of Time, her hair climbing like the brambles that envelope the Count and Countess over time. Something feels a bit off though, could it be the shoes? The overall silhouette with that shoe feels a little prom for me.

Someone totally doing their own thing: Cole Escola in Thom Browne. Their face looks like one of those haunted little Victorian children in a painting, and the look, complete with wicker basket and white tights, is full terrifying old lady who offers you a sweetie you shouldn’t accept. I’m reminded of the babysitter episode of That’s So Raven if that speaks to anyone. It’s creepy and I respect it.

Another quiet slay: Demi Moore in Harris Reed. It moved like a little bird as she ascended the carpet.

Another gorg moment: Pamela Anderson making her Met Gala debut at 56. You know we love this woman at Capsule. This feels very Sarah Jessica Parker in a high compliment way — proof that you don’t need to go garish to still nail it. She’s wearing the dress (not the other way around), I love the off-shoulder necklace, and the hair piece elevates it to Met-level.

Another sub-category: couples whose looks I just can’t get on with. First up, Taika Waititi and Rita Ora, both in Marni.

Next: Eddie Redmayne and Hannah Bagshawe. I heard the inspiration for this was charcoal line drawings, but this has none of the romantic smudginess and all of the awkwardness of harsh lines. I need Eddie to work on that pose also.

I’m willing to admit that this would hit different IRL, but it’s a bit too pantomime for me. It’s Disney princess, playing too easily into the hand of your palatable it-couple. It’s a shame we saw that dress silhouette so much during awards season with Schiaparelli, though this is Oscar de la Renta.

Two more low-key looks of the night which I love because they feel true to the personal style of each person: Rosalía and Iris Law. I think these will hold up over time - not the biggest risk, but lovely lovely execution.

And for good measure, me right now, after three hours sleep, wearing my ripped old Def Leppard t-shirt (a bit Charli XCX, no?) giving authority on who looks good at this event I will never go to:

Adios, my loves! And do reply with your thoughts if the spirit moves you to do so x

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See you next week 💋