AIBU to find the Met Gala outfits self-indulgent and ridiculous?

[SheThinksShesAllThat]

The met gala…. I can’t get over how self indulged these celebrities are!

80% of you look ridiculous in your ‘high’ fashion outfits!

I absolutely LOVED Hugh Grants interview…
”what are you wearing???…... ‘a suit’

That's the point, isn't it? Fashion as art, not as practical clothing.

I agree OP, I don’t understand why we put these people on a pedestal either. Most interviews are full of arse licking and I find it so fake and difficult to watch.

I don't watch this nonsense because quite frankly it annoys and disgusts me in equal measure.

It's difficult to escape all the publicity events like this generate though.

Why people pander to vain, self important, self obsessed people is a total mystery to me.

It's a revolting spectacle, honestly. The vanity, wealth and privilege on display. It's like the last days of Absolute Monarchy or the Capitol in The Hunger Games.

Vive la révolution!

That's the Met Gala's USP, though. I actually wonder more at the people who just show up in a nice designer dress, as if they didn't get the memo to come as a Kilmt painting or a veiled classical sculpture or a Tom of Finland leather daddy?

Plenty just wear lovely dresses, but they aren’t the ones that get the headlines or column inches. The ones that get reported on are the wacky

The gala raises money for the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It supports the preservation of cultural history. It keeps curators and experts employed. The ways that people have dressed across time tells us about lots of other aspects of history. It's not for nothing.

Yes, the outfits are expensive and some are a little bit ridiculous. But most of the people involved in making them were paid a decent wage, because they were made by couture houses. There was likely very little wasted materials and many will be preserved in collections, or sold on. The best are a great display of creativity and imagination that I enjoy looking at! I couldn't come up with those kinds of designs, and I definitely couldn't execute them, and I'm pleased someone can. I also probably couldn't wear the clothes with as much charisma as the celebrities do. Entertainment is part of life, and people who provide it can be rewarded.

None of this disgusts me as much as manufactures making tons of cheap, poor quality clothing from oil-based fabrics, that will be worn once or twice and then sent to landfill, or will never be sold or worn, and end up in a huge pile somewhere where the Western buyers of the clothes can't see them.

I love it, it’s art

Really?

I find it symbolic of the world we live in. Decadence and self indulgence for the privileged while the vast majority have to live with poverty, starvation, disease, exploitation and war.

It's a sick world we have created.

Yes it is decadent and self indulged but the fashion, film and music industries employ thousands of people and these events will also bring a lot of income to the hospitality businesses. It will generate a ton of money that goes back into the economy.

@GoldMerchant I think I love you! Your post is such a relief in the midst of all the completely uninformed pontificating.

It’s entirely possible to despise fascist-leaning billionaires but also want the best resources possible made available to preserve and extend the history of art and costume.

Thank you! I should say, because I didn't above, that I hate the fact that Jeff Bezos sponsored it this year. I think he's a terrible person, who runs a company that is trying to become too big to fail so it can get away with anything, that stands for a precisely the opposite of the emphasis on craft, skill and beauty that the Costume Institute celebrates.

But it's also kind of horribly appropriate for our second Gilded Age. Lots of the beautiful things we can enjoy in museums are there because of terrible rich people's money. I was listening to an audiobook of Caroline Fraser's "Murderland" which goes into a lot of detail of how the Guggenheim Museums are built in part on profits from chemical factories that poisoned the Pacific Northwest and other places. We've never really managed to divorce great art and problematic patronage (but I'm not sure that was the root of the OPs dislike of the Met Gala).

It’s utter insane

But then I enjoy going to view ridiculously expensive paintings - which you could say was also just as pointless, so………..

That’s the point? The theme was “fashion is art”, each year they have a theme where they get to dress up and have fun, while raising a huge amount of money for Metropolitan Museum of Art, which keeps it free to access for everyone.

It’s art.
Obviously not to everyone’s taste but you could say the same of many of the displayed pieces in the Met Museum.
We all find beauty in something.
Ridiculouly expensive outfits but so is the Mona Lisa.
The Met Ball raises $$$$$ to keep art available to the world.

Great post @GoldMerchant, I really enjoy seeing the costumes and the artistry involved. I particularly liked this years theme. I thought Madonna’s outfit/ tableau was sensational. I also loved the dress inspired by Klimt.
I am working class, I love art and fashion. I will never be able to afford a designer outfit or original art, but I can still appreciate it and enjoy looking at it.
Life is miserable at the moment, we al need some joy in it. It might not be your joy OP, others enjoy watching sport or going to shows. Each to their own.

I have never had an interest in fashion.
I have frequently thought fashion show or "red carpet" outfits look ridiculous.
But this year I was interested about the Gala because of a couple of actors I like being there.
I really did find it fascinating. The craziness of the outfits. What some were representating or meant to be. I've watched a lot of behind the scenes features and interviews online which explains the costumes and how they are created.
It's a whole new thing for me to be interested in. I am even thinking of going to the V+A museum to look at some of the fashion stuff there.
Isn't that the point of art? To be interesting?

Absolutely!

I know what it's for. I just don't like the way it's done. It's a massive Elite Fest.

And I'm not sure most of the celebrities care as much about the charity aspect as they do about the spectacle. I suppose it's one way to get money out of the vain and self-obsessed.

There are better more tasteful ways to raise money, imo.

I despise celebrity worship and I think most of the general population is so very over them all.

The pictures I saw reminded me of the Capitol styles in The Hunger Games, too. Interesting we both thought that.

So, yet another dystopian nightmare that's becoming our reality. You can almost tick them off on a list nowadays.

Yes, DH points out that the exquisite Renaissance art I float around enjoying in Italy was mostly commissioned by ruthless brutes, corrupt popes and politicians etc.

I'm glad to hear that it's not just a big pointless spectacle, but some of the efforts were virtue signaling at it's best. Looking at you, Sarah Paulson.

It's become tone deaf, crass and awful. I actually studied alongside Andrew Bolton, the dapper (and super bright) head of the Costume Institute, and gosh I'd love to tell him how it's now viewed by the rest of the world. More than that, he attended mine and friends' weddings in the 1990s. Shame we lost touch as he rose and rose!

Shades of AOC in her 'Tax the Rich' dress. Errr...have you forgotten where you are and who you're socialising with and how much money you have, love?

Personally, I very much enjoyed seeing the costumes. Heidi Klum’s vestal virgin costume … stunning!

You could argue most forms of art - and the costumes are works of art in themselves- are pointless and unnecessary uses of money. Movies, sculptures, artworks that have £££ spent to create them. I think art and entertainment are still worthy of celebration though, and the Met Gala costumes are still raising money and the profile of a good cause.