“I like to think of celebrities like the ancient Greek or Hindu gods,enacting rich stories for our entertainment,” says Roger Leong,senior curator at the Powerhouse Museum. “This will be a celebrity interpretation of the theme,through the filter of designers and stylists.”
In other words,don’t be surprised if someone tries to outdo actor Jared Leto,who dressed as Karl Lagerfeld’s cat Choupette at last year’s tribute to the former Chanel creative director.
“It’s quite an intellectual theme,” says Queensland curator Kubler. The exhibition will use AI,film and scent to capture the essence of dresses too fragile to be placed on mannequins.“I fear the red carpet treatment will be less than intellectual.”
“It will be very different from what is on display. It would be wonderful if outfits could explore the social merit of clothing.”
Leong hopes red carpet choices will have a vintage feeling without cherry-picking fashion archives like Zendaya’s stylist Law Roach for herDune2 press tour,which included a robot suit from Thierry Mugler’s 1995 autumn/winter couture show and a Givenchy by Alexander McQueen motherboard dress from autumn/winter 1999.
“If you look at John Galliano’s couture show for Maison Margiela last season,there was a history of clothing captured in new pieces. Margiela has always understood the poetry of clothing.”
Kendall Jenner has a jump on celebrities,having worn a black lace dress from the critically acclaimed collection to theVanity Fair Oscars party.
What will celebrities actually wear to the Met Gala?
“I’m interested to see how stylists and designers will interpret the theme,” says Australian stylist Jess Pecoraro who has worked with Jesinta Franklin,radio presenter Jackie O,model Sarah Ellen and Kate Waterhouse on red carpet looks. “I really hope we see plenty of archival pieces. I know if I was styling someone,that’s the direction I would be taking.”
If you’ve watchedThe Devil Wears Prada, you know that florals for a northern hemisphere spring are hardly groundbreaking,leaving plenty of outfits for designers to choose from.
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Expect dresses borrowed from Jeremy Scott’s 2018 flower-inspired collection for Moschino,which starred supermodel Gigi Hadid dressed as a giant bouquet. In 1982,Thierry Mugler planted roots for the Moschino collection with his own range of flower dresses,while designer Daniel Roseberry arranged flowers in his dresses for Schiaparelli’s 2022 autumn/winter haute couture show.
More adventurous Jared Leto types might look to Loewe designer Jonathan Anderson’s shoes and coats sprouting grass from his spring-summer 2023 menswear show.
“Yes there will be flowers,” Kubler says. “If I was going,I would look for a piece that spoke to the fragility of clothing. I have a gold Yves Saint Laurent trench coat that leaves a trail of glitter whenever I wear it. Its limited lifespan makes it all the more valuable.”
“It says more than flowers.”
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