celebrity

Kanye West has done many things. But his Met Gala jacket could be the most unforgivable.

Kanye West, you’ve done many things I’ve disagreed with in your time, but this could be the most unforgivable.

OK, the weird Trump friendship and slavery comments are up there too. But wearing a $57 jacket to the 2019 Met Gala is JUST. NOT. ON.

Facts out of the way first: Kanye rolled out of bed and thought it’d be a good idea to wear a $57 jacket from workwear brand Dickies, which you can buy on Amazon, to the fashion event of the year.

kim kardashian kanye west
KANYE, Y SO SAD? Image: Getty.

There's nothing that wrong with the jacket. It's nearly winter here in Oz, I need one like this for my walk to work.

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But it's the Met Gala and the theme was "Camp: Notes on Fashion". It's a theme that's all about liberating whimsy, embracing flamboyance and as per the term's special resonance in LGBTI history, playing a bit with gender and sexuality.

Or, as per the definition of the theme, based on Susan Sontag's 1964 essay Notes on Camp, camp is defined as "the love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration".

Hell, it's an opportunity to go extra and play with identity.

Harry Styles did it with his sheer Gucci top.

The 2019 Met Gala
Haz gets it. Image: Getty.
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Fantastic Beasts' Ezra Miller freaking wore five extra eyes on his face.

The 2019 Met Gala Celebrating Camp: Notes on Fashion - Arrivals
Not a lazy eye in sight. Image: Getty.

Pose actor Billy Porter entered upon a chaise lounge carried by six shirtless men, going full Cleopatra and Ancient Egypt.

Met Gala 2019 Billy Porter
*bows down* Image: Getty.
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Jared Leto wore a Gucci gown with the ultimate accessory: a clutch made of his own head.

jared leto met gala
Jared Leto, House of Wax calling. Image: Getty.
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Darren Criss wore makeup that looked straight out of The Hunger Games.

Met Gala 2019 Darren Criss
Darren Criss, from The Assassination of Gianni Versace straight to the Capitol. Image: Getty.
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RuPaul wore a hot-pink, neon orange, neon blue and white vinyl custom-made suit with ostrich fringe running up the sleeve and zebra pattern.

Most subversive of all, he did it dressed as a man and not the drag he's so well known for.

Met Gala 2019 RuPaul
The theme was 'camp' and RuPaul nailed it. Image: Getty.
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My point is, they damn well smashed the theme and let go of the limitations of red-carpet masculinity for a moment and embraced what the women at the 2019 Met Gala know so well: fashion is fun.

Just look at Lady Gaga, who bothered to rustle up not one but four incredible outfits. To Gaga, it's a performance, part of the art of fashion. Artifice, exaggeration, surprise.

2019 Met Gala Lady Gaga
A star is born. And reborn. And reborn. And reborn. Images: Getty.

Kim Kardashian interpreted the theme a little differently with her Thierry Mugler 'water drop' dress (or as someone else in the office described it, a dress with a substance that "looks like something else").

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kim kardashian kanye west
More tears than Kim Kardashian's cry-face emoji. Image: Getty.

Now, one could argue that Kanye deliberately dressed down to put the focus all on Kim, who clearly loves a red-carpet moment more than he does. In this view, Kanye is just an ordinary guy (LOLS) who wants to support his wife's dreams by just turning up. Cool.

Another argument is the reverse. Kim has spent hours, days, weeks preparing for this. In response to people's reactions to Kim's tiny waist at the Met Gala, her trainer Melissa Alcantara wrote on Instagram:

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"To make things clear. 1. This dress is corseted BUT 2. Kim trains her a– off 6 days a f—— week, she wakes up early AF and is dedicated. 3. I paved the road for her but SHE did the work!"

That is absolutely Kim's right to do so. But it does present a double standard for how a woman needs to train her butt off to look good for red carpets, while Kanye just needs to turn up in a $57 jacket and crack a smile.

Oh wait, he didn't even do that.

At this point, you're probably saying "yeah, just let Kanye be Kanye. That's his style". And that's true too. He can do whatever he feels like, he's goddamn Kanye West.

But he's missing the point of the Met Gala: "Camp" is an opportunity to throw away the vestiges of who you think you are for a moment, or on the contrary, amplify it to the extreme.

I'm not saying he should wear an expensive jacket. Hey, it's kinda cool and relatable for him to just go "whatevs" to this whole snooty hoo-ha. You could even say he's being ironic, instead of lazy. Maybe he's making a democratic statement about fashion's accessibility to the masses. Maybe it's a protest against the OTT artifice the Met Gala appears to represent. By that token, he'd be protesting his own wife's outfit then.

All I'm saying is, dress for the occasion. Get a colourful jacket. Wear a bright shoe.

Kanye once wore a Givenchy leather kilt – wear it again, differently. Just dress for the occasion.

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Or do what Joe Jonas did and just match Sophie Turner's excellent pantsuit:

Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner attend The 2019 Met Gala. Image: Getty.
Att Kanye: Take a note out of Joe's book. Image: Getty.

Simple, but effective.

Kanye, I know there are more First World problems for me to write about than your $57 jacket but please, next year, embrace the theme. And no, you don't have to smile.

What are your thoughts on Kanye's outfit? Tell us in a comment below.