One of the best pictorial coverage is at the Red Carpet Fashion Awards
There are PAGES of every dress and she also features a ton of girls that did not land on a lot of the bigger mainstream summaries of the event. Just go hop over there to see all the pics and find out who wore what. She did a far better job than I could do!
The theme this year was the American Woman and I have to say that I don't think that this theme was given its proper due by the attendees. If you read the little blurb on style.com before jumping straight the pictures you would have seen this:
The theme this year was the American Woman and I have to say that I don't think that this theme was given its proper due by the attendees. If you read the little blurb on style.com before jumping straight the pictures you would have seen this:
The Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute benefit was all about stateside roots this year, celebrating as it did the opening of American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity. Proceedings inside had a turn-of-the-century feel, with wicker chairs at the dinner tables and a hot-air balloon inspired by one from the 1893 Chicago World's Fair looming over the Great Hall.
and if you hop over to the MET's site the intro to the actual exhibit is this
American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity is the first Costume Institute exhibition drawn from the newly established Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at the Met. It will explore developing perceptions of the modern American woman from 1890 to 1940 and how they have affected the way American women are seen today. Focusing on archetypes of American femininity through dress, the exhibition will reveal how the American woman initiated style revolutions that mirrored her social, political, and sexual emancipation. "Gibson Girls," "Bohemians," and "Screen Sirens," among others, helped lay the foundation for today's American woman.
American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity is the first Costume Institute exhibition drawn from the newly established Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at the Met. It will explore developing perceptions of the modern American woman from 1890 to 1940 and how they have affected the way American women are seen today. Focusing on archetypes of American femininity through dress, the exhibition will reveal how the American woman initiated style revolutions that mirrored her social, political, and sexual emancipation. "Gibson Girls," "Bohemians," and "Screen Sirens," among others, helped lay the foundation for today's American woman.
So, one would have thought you would have seen some fabulous examples of the period and a huge representation of American Designers, no?
Sadly, no
There were very few dresses that really paid homage to the theme and there was certainly not a single original piece from this era to be found. Yes, there were some that you can point to that had definite influence from the past but it seems that the Gala has become, well, a regular old Gala. The dresses were lovely and appropriate to be sure, but where was the girl brave enough to make the STAND.
To pay true homage to the theme of the event?
Anne Hathaway's dress was reminiscent of times past but was a Valentino -
lovely but decidedly not an American designer
Sadly, no
There were very few dresses that really paid homage to the theme and there was certainly not a single original piece from this era to be found. Yes, there were some that you can point to that had definite influence from the past but it seems that the Gala has become, well, a regular old Gala. The dresses were lovely and appropriate to be sure, but where was the girl brave enough to make the STAND.
To pay true homage to the theme of the event?
Anne Hathaway's dress was reminiscent of times past but was a Valentino -lovely but decidedly not an American designer
Last year's theme was the Super Hero - remember Anna Wintour got the proverbial nation-wide dis for her Superhero themed outfit? Maybe seeing the most powerful editor in the world scared everyone's La Perla panties into huge knots of anxiety over similar treatment so they decided to play it safe?
Except for, of course, Kate Perry, but her lit-up-from-within dress was just a statement on it's own, NOT a statement on the Gala's theme.
Maybe it's just a reflection of our present day media scrutiny.
We live in an age where every time a girl steps out into public there are thousands, if not tens of thousands, lurkers, waiting to dissect every inch of what a girl chooses to wear and thanks to the anonymity of the internet, they feel free to dissect as harshly and abruptly as they can.
Maybe that is slowly, but surely, breeding a kind of a generic beauty that we all feel obligated to abide by.
There could be made at this point in the conversation, an astute observation of how before the turn of the century woman were put in a somewhat similar situation style wise, made by the pressures of society-past to conform to "proper and decent decorum in both dress and manner".
Until those crazy, early wild child girls of the 20s and thirties came along and said a fashionable "f*ck you" and designers like Schiaparelli worked with the great artists of the day to push the envelope, allowing woman to become walking statements of belief, conviction and do it all through fashion. And we celebrate those same women now when we talk about the influence those brave woman had on our present day freedoms and style and trends.
Ooops hang on, wasn't that the theme of the Gala?
Thank goodness we all know that in fashion - there is always next season
Except for, of course, Kate Perry, but her lit-up-from-within dress was just a statement on it's own, NOT a statement on the Gala's theme.Maybe it's just a reflection of our present day media scrutiny.
We live in an age where every time a girl steps out into public there are thousands, if not tens of thousands, lurkers, waiting to dissect every inch of what a girl chooses to wear and thanks to the anonymity of the internet, they feel free to dissect as harshly and abruptly as they can.
Maybe that is slowly, but surely, breeding a kind of a generic beauty that we all feel obligated to abide by.
There could be made at this point in the conversation, an astute observation of how before the turn of the century woman were put in a somewhat similar situation style wise, made by the pressures of society-past to conform to "proper and decent decorum in both dress and manner".
Until those crazy, early wild child girls of the 20s and thirties came along and said a fashionable "f*ck you" and designers like Schiaparelli worked with the great artists of the day to push the envelope, allowing woman to become walking statements of belief, conviction and do it all through fashion. And we celebrate those same women now when we talk about the influence those brave woman had on our present day freedoms and style and trends.
Ooops hang on, wasn't that the theme of the Gala?
Thank goodness we all know that in fashion - there is always next season
1 comment:
Agree about generic standards of beauty! Everyone looks the same now and it's boring. Bring back Cher and her feathered headdress!
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