Forgive me for sounding like a conspiracy theorist, but the most prolific designers on this year’s Met Gala red carpet also happen to be some of the biggest advertisers in American Vogue.
Not that it’s a bad thing – I prefer to admire the “Oscars of Fashion” because it represents the jewel in Anna Wintour’s crown. The apex of her fashion media empire. If you’ve seen The September Edition, you’ll know that her decision to bring the world of celebrity into the world of fashion was not an accident, but a stroke of commercially-minded genius. She got so much hate for the 2014 Kim & Kanye cover, but here they are on the red carpet with the rest of the Balmain army.
Why? Because that’s where the population is. The cover was one of the highest-selling issues of all time. Maximum readership = maximum $$$. What else equals maximum money? Happy advertisers. And so, without further conspiracy-theorising,
here are the real winners of the 2016 Met Gala:
Louis Vuitton
Military boots for everyone! Nicolas Ghesquière was even one of the night’s co-hosts! Way to play favourites, Wintour. Alicia Vikander, Grimes, Selena Gomez, Jaden Smith, Taylor Swift, Lea Seydoux, and a ton more all repped the house. (And despite all my sassy reporting here, their looks were some of my favourites.)
Balmain
The Kim & Kanye hullaballoo was totally Balmain’s fault. I don’t know how ripped jeans made it past the door at a “White Tie” event, but if I was a security guard and I saw a guy with such crazy eye contacts, I wouldn’t start a fight either.
Also – did you hear – Kim was reportedly offered four different one-off Balmain dresses, and chopped two of them in half to make the one she ended up wearing!?
It’s crazy to think that the same fashion house dressed the “Balmain Army” of supermodels: Jourdan Dunn, Joan Smalls, Cindy Crawford, Doutzen Kroes, Sean O’Pry, and Alessandra Ambrosio. That’s kind of what Wintour is getting at – a mix of highbrow and lowbrow – I suppose.
Calvin Klein
Kudos to CK for keeping things classy, am I right? Emma Watson’s five-piece outfit was my favourite look of the entire evening and it was made entirely from recycled plastic bottles. To get even better, Amanda Stenberg’s red outfit was Afro-Futurism inspired and was one of the only not-silver outfits. Lupita Nyong’o rocked that minty green colour. Remember the pale blue dress she wore to accept her Oscar for Ten Years a Slave? She’s obviously onto something. And I thought her hair was awesome.
Actually, now that I think of it, CK was one of the only designers able to steer clear of silver. Well done!
Chanel
Wintour herself put all her chips in the old faithful. Did anyone else get the vibe that Lily-Rose Depp had picked the mini-me version? Willow Smith is their new ambassador and I think she nailed it too.
Honourable mention goes to:
Beyonce, duh. Because she “rocked that Givenchy dress”.
– Bri
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