The Met Gala is fast closing in and that means that there are going to be three news stories that you'll likely see dominating headlines in the next 24 hours.
The first type of news story will be galleries curating looks from the red carpet, potentially including celebrities that nailed the brief and fun, snide commentary about those who seem to have entirely fumbled the ball.
The second news story will be straight-up gossip. It's going to be Timothée Chalamet attending with Kylie Jenner. Or it's going to be a wild amount of concentration on who is not attending the Gala this year.
For example, it was rumoured a few weeks ago that none of the Kardashians will be making an appearance after an alleged Anna Wintour-led 'crackdown' on the guest list. But then Kim Kardashian posted a photo of herself with Karl Lagerfeld's cat, seemingly disproving the theory whilst simultaneously proving that the way media works in 2023 is completely bananas.
Listen to the spill discuss a 2021 Met Gala conspiracy below. Article continues after podcast.
The third story is maybe the biggest that has been surrounding the Met Gala this year and that is the controversial 2023 theme that was intended as a tribute to the late Chanel creative director: "In honour of Karl."
It's been just over four years since Lagerfeld passed. He was undeniably one of the most influential fashion minds of all time, but he also said some fairly reprehensible things and, at various points, incited backlash with blithe and tone-deaf comments about the #MeToo movement, body positivity, same-sex marriage, and migrants.
When he was first announced as the theme of fashion's most highly publicised event of the year, there was an uproar from progressive commentators, who were dismayed by the insistence that somebody with such, frankly, s**tty belief systems should be lauded in 2023. It seemed to be an insistently conservative, elitist message from the fashion industry that they haven't moved on and they're not particularly interested in broadening their minds or refining their politics.
Actor and activist Jameela Jamil wrote in response to the initial announcement:
"Why is THIS who we celebrate when there are so many AMAZING designers out there who aren't bigoted white men? What happened to everyone's principles and 'advocacy'? You don't get to stand for justice in these areas, and then attend the celebration of someone who reveled in his own public disdain for marginalised people."
The online group dedicated to making the Met Gala an inclusive event open to public contributions from designers around the world, High Fashion Twitter Met Gala, also tweeted saying that they will not be participating in the excitement of this year's event because their "values don't align with the selection of Karl Lagerfeld as the theme".
As we approach the first Monday of May, the hf twitter met gala team would like to announce that we will not be celebrating this year’s met gala as our values don’t align with the selection of Karl Lagerfeld as the theme. We hope to celebrate with our community again soon.🫶
— HF Twit Met Gala (@HFMetGala) April 17, 2023
Ultimately, the controversy around the theme choice has left a strange discord in the press surrounding the event.
On the one hand, there will be photo galleries praising looks, rampant gossipy commentary, and certainly messages of respect and adoration posted for Lagerfeld himself posted by celebrities attending the Gala. But on the other hand, there will be broad (and legitimate) criticism about the fashion icon and why he was chosen as the centrepiece for the event at all.
Watching the celebrities turn up to the Met Gala, there's clearly going to be a certain level of discomfort seeing so many rich and famous people turn up looking incredible whilst also turning a blind eye to the controversy about the evening.
It's a criticism that I've had simmering for a while.
In the weeks and months after Lagerfeld's death, I was waiting for celebrities, specifically models with intimate experience of the fashion industry, to at least acknowledge his history of saying pretty awful things. To say they won't attend the Gala because of the theme – or at least, if they are attending, to make some sort of clear-eyed commentary about the whole thing.
I think it's entirely possible for a celebrity to make a statement saying, 'Yes, he was a remarkable designer and creative mind, but he also had some stupid, hurtful ideas about the world that I don't agree with or endorse.' But it never really came.
Look at the wildest Met Gala looks of all time below. Article continues after video.
As somebody who worked in the fashion industry for many years as a model, it reminds me of something that I came to absolutely loathe about the job: that to be successful was to feel fundamentally disempowered to speak out about much at all.
I know this sounds strange in the context of talking about very, very wealthy, ostensibly influential people, but I've come to believe that it's something that is ingrained in people working in the fashion and entertainment industries, regardless of their status. People who are highly political and take aim at highly esteemed figures, people who criticise or ring alarm bells about wrongdoings, are not the people who thrive. To have integrity is inherently a problem for your commercial viability in these spaces.
It's a constant sense of a lack of security, driven by the fact that you rarely have consistent contracts, that ends up muzzling you and forcing you to publicly adopt really apolitical mindsets. It's the feeling of having to maintain relevance, credibility, and cash that pushes celebrities and models to do cringey things like Aubrey Plaza's recent commercial promoting the dairy industry.
I'm not suggesting that these multi-multi-millionaires are people to be pitied. I'm saying that they understand the cost of integrity in their own careers and rarely know how to wield it effectively because of that.
Of course, this doesn't apply to everyone, and there are striking examples of people who have spoken out about people like Lagerfeld in recent years, including Australian Victoria's Secret Model Bridget Malcolm, who criticised the creative director after he said he was "fed up" with hearing about experiences of sexual harassment and assault during the height of the #MeToo controversies. Malcolm slammed him in an Instagram post that explained she had been "sexually assaulted on set multiple times".
"I wonder @KarlLagerfeld what existence is like when you are part of the ruling class in society. Women will not be dressed by misogyny anymore. Shame on you. #MeToo."
But Malcolm is a rare exception in the fashion landscape. Very few models of her standing would ever be willing to speak out against one of the biggest icons in fashion, and when it comes to those attending the Met Gala, presumably none of them will. Because regardless of how rich and powerful we believe these red-carpet figures to be, they're all still actors and models. And actors and models would never threaten their chances of landing a campaign with Chanel – or any other major fashion house – in the future.
They're all still people whose careers are contingent on their being quiet about a lot of things for the sake of getting work. For the most part, their careers are made or broken by other people. They know not to bite the hand that feeds, even when that hand says racist, abhorrent things.
I'm not saying it's right or excusable – it's just a clear-cut demonstration that when it comes to crunch time, too many people will act in their financial self-interest and simply stay quiet.
And maybe that's fine. Maybe it shouldn't even really matter that beautiful, rich people who put on clothes and act like other people for a living speak out about problematic things.
But maybe in acknowledging that, we have to have some kind of broader shift in our thinking about celebrity – that the beautiful and famous aren't necessarily powerful and you can't always rely on them to do the right thing.
Elfy Scott is Mamamia's editor.
Image: Getty.
Love all-things beauty? Take this short survey now to go in the running to win a $50 gift voucher!
