The Met Gala aka The Met Ball is the Metropolitan Museum of Art's charity event that takes place in NYC every May. The Met Gala benefits and funds the Costume Institute, which is essentially The Met's fashion arm, and is accompanied by an exhibit celebrating a designer or a theme. The 2017 Met Gala theme is Rei Kawakubo x Comme des Garçons.
The ball is one of the biggest fashion events of the calendar year. Therefore, this news should be followed by two questions, since celebs and A-listers turn up in gorgeous couture related to or inspired by the event's theme, which changes annually. The first question is "What will the likes of Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Beyonce, and more be wearing to the event?" and the second is "Who is Rei Kawakubo?"
Well, we'll have to wait until Monday, May 1 to see what ensembles the stars wear to the event, which is co-chaired this year by fashion luminaries and pop culture figures such as Katy Perry, Pharrell Williams, and Anna Wintour. Kawakubo will fill the role of honorary chair.
As for who Kawakubo is? Well, she is a Japanese designer and founder of Comme des Garçons. She is also the first living designer to be featured for the exhibit since Yves Saint Laurent in 1983, according to Vogue.
Andrew Bolton, the Costume Institute's curator, said that Kawakubo has been selected for an obvious reason — she is "one of the most important and influential designers of the past forty years. According to Vogue, Bolton noted that Kawakubo's work invites us "to rethink fashion as a site of constant creation, recreation, and hybridity, she has defined the aesthetics of our time."
The actual exhibit will boast 120 of Kawakubo's designs, going as far back as the first runway collection in 1981 up through the current season. Themes are binary and include East and West, male and female, past and present.
I am already excited about May 1, 2017 because of this news.
