This year’s Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art featured today’s biggest stars but not all was enchanting in this year’s enchanted garden theme.
To understand my best and worst dressed list, Fashion Notes readers should know that arrivals were asked to keep this year’s theme in mind when choosing their look.
J.G. Ballard’s 1962 short story The Garden of Time was the backdrop for the evening, meant to coincide with the Costume Institute’s exhibition, Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.
Ballard’s story is about a count and countess passing the time in their palatial residence, surrounded by gardens. When a mob comes headed their way, the count plucks time flowers from their garden which reverses time. Eventually, though, the last time flower is plucked nothing is left of the count and countess except statues in their honor.
Encompassing the elements of clockwork, some Met Gala arrivals made it big time while others’ timing was off.
Best Dressed: Elle Fanning in Balmain
Elle Fanning reigns as my best dressed of the evening in this Sleeping Beauty wonder from Olivier Rousteing at Balmain.
The organza bustier is covered in four layers of resin to create a trompe l’oeil glass effect. The gown itself is seemingly held up by two birds sculpted in resin, the kind of enchantment only a princess can summon.
(Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
(Taylor Hill/Getty Images)
Worst Dressed: Lana Del Rey in Alexander McQueen
Alexander McQueen’s new creative director Seán McGirr envisioned Lana Del Rey in the late Lee McQueen’s Look 47, worn by Raquel Zimmermann, from his Fall 2006 Collection titled “Widows of Culloden.” It’s a haunting look with couture-like construction.
What McGirr delivered for Lana is a mosquito net held up by tree branches, horse hoof (yes, I’m not exaggerating) boots, and a flesh-toned dress that doesn’t fit. Oh and, Lana’s holding a rose because … well, it’s a garden party.
(Gotham/Getty Images)
(Gotham/Getty Images)
Best Dressed: Tom Ford in Saint Laurent
Tom Ford was once the creative director of Yves Saint Laurent, bringing his sex sells aesthetic to the Parisian house. Today, it’s helmed by Anthony Vacarello who chose to dress Ford for the evening in this red velvet tuxedo jacket that nods to Ford’s velvet jackets he once wore while taking a bow at the end of his Saint Laurent shows.
It’s all very meta in the chicest way.
(Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
(Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
Worst Dressed: Jennifer Lopez in Schiaparelli
How many times do we have to see JLo in the same dress, same updo, same scowl, same makeup, same heels?
She should save herself time and money and wear this Schiaparelli gown to every red carpet from here on out — maybe then she’ll turn up on my best dressed list.
(Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
(Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
Best Dressed and Worst Dressed: Zendaya in Maison Margiela by John Galliano
When things land on the best and worst list, it’s an indication that something is so good it can be wrong.
That’s the case with this Maison Margiela Artisanal gown from John Galliano for Zendaya. With this duchess satin corset gown, Galliano references his work from Christian Dior’s Spring 1999 Haute Couture collection.
Its iridescent ornamentation, sage lamé and organza bias-cut shape, and hand-painted elements are a fantastical homage to the work of Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dali.
But, when I first glanced at this ensemble, my internal monologue insisted this was a high school fashion show disaster from the deep, intellectual student who is much dumber than he lets on.
(Marleen Moise/Getty Images)
(Taylor Hill/Getty Images)
Worst Dressed: Michelle Yeoh in Balenciaga
Hershey Kisses did it better.
(Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
(Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
Best Dressed: Chloë Sevigny in Dilara Fındıkoğlu
I already know *this* is the one look on my best dressed list that I’ll get blasted for but let me explain. To know Chloë Sevigny’s It Girl style is to not only love it, but be a cult follower for it. She takes streetwear to new heights and keeps a sense of self that is seldom in Hollywood’s world of stylists and trends.
With this busted Marie Antoinette look from Dilara Fındıkoğlu, Sevigny takes iconography and deconstructs it to create something new albeit girlishly weird. The number is made entirely from old Victorian garments and is embellished on the skirt with flowers made of synthetic hair.
Who else can pull off something so girlishly weird, with a smile on their face?!
(Arturo Holmes/MG24/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
(Aliah Anderson/Getty Images)
Worst Dressed: Doja Cat in Vetements
This worst dressed feature captures everything I’ve come to despise about today’s Met Galas.
Once an exclusive party for fashion insiders and museum donors (the only ball where Melania Trump and Olsen Twins appeared on the same red carpet!) has since become a circus for B-list celebrities to shock for social media clicks.
Case in point: Doja Cat in a sopping wet Vetements t-shirt.
(Taylor Hill/Getty Images)
(Taylor Hill/Getty Images)
Best Dressed: Kylie Jenner in Oscar de la Renta
This is the first time Kylie Jenner has landed on my best dressed list and it is well deserved. In this ivory satin frock from Oscar de la Renta, Jenner evokes the old Hollywood glamour of a past time when stars were stars.
A single bloomed rose in her hair is all these beauty needs.
(Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
(Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
Worst Dressed: Kim Kardashian in Maison Margiela
Kim Kardashian in this Maison Margiela design from John Galliano is a difficult one to put on my worst dressed list because there are aspects I like. For example, I love that Galliano, again, references his days at Dior — this time Fall 1997’s Haute Couture collection — and Kim’s extra cinched waist is something to behold.
Simultaneously, I want to know why she’s gripping a pilled cropped cardigan and why her bottom has to be accentuated to the point of cartoonish.
(Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
(Taylor Hill/Getty Images)
Best Dressed: Nicole Kidman in Balenciaga
Last on my best dressed list is Nicole Kidman in this Balenciaga gown, a recreation of a 1951 Cristóbal Balenciaga original. The original gown was worn by fashion model icon Dorian Leigh and photographed by, equally iconic, Richard Avedon.
“I consider it a sleeping beauty that’s been brought back to life,” Kidman told Vogue.
(Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
(Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
