The Met Gala is a major, exclusive fashion event that happens on the first Monday of May every year in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. It is considered the “biggest night in fashion” because many invited famous people, such as singers, actors, and models, from all over the world, come dressed in creative outfits. The event aims to raise money for the Met Museum’s fashion section. The money comes from the tickets that the guests pay, a ticket per person is $75,000. Every year, there is a different theme that the guests have to follow with their outfits. The Met Gala gets people engaged and talking on social media.
This year, the Met Gala was held on May 5th, and this year’s theme was “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.” According to the MET website, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style explores the importance of style to the formation of Black identities in the Atlantic diaspora, particularly in the United States and Europe (metmuseum.org).” Its main focus is on Black dandyism, which first began in the 18th century and was a mix of European and African fashion. The exhibit highlights how Black fashion has been utilized to stand out, express pride, and fight against injustice through apparel, artwork, and artifacts at the museum.
Lisa, a member of the widely known girl group Blackpink, attended the Met Gala for the first time. One of the largest fashion brands in the world, Louis Vuitton, personally invited her and paid for her table. Lisa’s outfit was black waist-length shorts and glittering black lace jacket, with black high heels, and sheer black tights under the shorts with the LV logo all over them, completed with a black and white LV purse.
After the paparazzi pictures of Lisa’s Met Gala look were released online, viewers’ attention was drawn to the figures who were embroidered on her blazer and shorts. Some people believed that they recognized the face of civil rights activist Rosa Parks on the shorts that Lisa was wearing. Numerous TikTok users expressed their anger in the videos, claiming that it was extremely disrespectful to place Rosa Parks’ face in an inappropriate place on the body. Lisa received much of the backlash for wearing the outfit, compared to Pharrell Williams, who was the creative director behind it, or Henry Taylor, the actual designer. Louis Vuitton addressed the issue, stating that the portraits on the outfit were of “figures who have been part of the artists’ [Pharrell Williams] life,” not historical figures.
