Met Gala
Louisville's first Met Gala
Charlie Deitchman '23
Opinion & Sports
The Met Gala came to Louisville on the final day of spirit week as a bold theme idea by the ASB. If you are unfamiliar with the Met Gala, it is essentially an annual fundraising event for the opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute’s newest exhibition and the biggest night in the fashion industry. ASB instructed the student body to come dressed in their best attempt at a Met Gala look, each grade being assigned a past Met Gala theme.
Seniors received the theme Heavenly Bodies, which features “dialogue between fashion and medieval art from the Met collection to examine fashion's ongoing engagement with the devotional practices and traditions of Catholicism" (Katz).
Hailey Koffman '24 in her best camp outfit
The Juniors received Camp as their theme, which celebrates "how the elements of irony, humor, parody, pastiche, artifice, theatricality, and exaggeration are expressed in fashion" (Garcia).
The sophomores were challenged with Gilded Glamour, a theme meant to call back New York’s Gilded Age.
Finally, the freshmen were given In America: A Lexicon of Fashion, which was meant to be an honor to young and emerging designers.
In anticipation of the day, the Met Gala seemed to be a very polarizing theme. There was a lot of confusion as to what students were actually supposed to wear. They did not know whether to show up in casual attire or full on ball gowns. However, once Friday finally arrived, it was amazing to see everyone’s outfits come together.
Everyone was pleasantly surprised by the amount of students that went all out for the Met Gala. The seniors all looked great in their biblical inspired looks, with some taking the theme more literally than others. Kate Luderer ’23, Lola Jefferies ’23 and Cece Cellura ’23 did a great job recreating the story of Cain and Abel while Dzian Tran ’23 looked saint-like, dripping in head-to-toe gold and Nat Hernandez ’23 came in a full ball gown.
Kate Luderer '23, Lola Jefferies '23 and Cece Cellura '23 recreating the story of Cain and Abel
The juniors also showed up red carpet ready in outfits that pushed boundaries and were incredibly over the top.
There seemed to be less participation from the sophomores and freshmen but those who did partake did an amazing job.
On the day of, I asked people their thoughts on Met Gala day to see if the student body’s hesitancy towards the theme had changed after seeing the actual day take shape.
Hailey Koffman ’24 said that “it's great seeing people go all out” while Thuyan Tran ’25 raised legitimate concerns that it’s “not the best thing to wear to school.” Other students like Ava Pioquinto ’26 said that while she was not a big fan of the freshman’s theme, she “still really enjoys the idea, I just don’t think it is the best day of spirit week.” Lauryn Bulman ’23 on the other hand called it her “favorite day this week!”
Overall, Met Gala day was a success. Although many seemed to have mixed feelings on the theme itself, everyone seemed to at least enjoy the day and appreciated the creativity behind the idea.
Works Cited
Garcia, Kira. “Met Gala: What Does ‘Camp’ Mean in 2019?” Cnn.com, 3 Oct. 2022. https://www.cnn.com/style/article/met-gala-2019-what-is-camp/index.html#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20museum%2C%20the,exaggeration%20are%20expressed%20in%20fashion.%22.
Katz, Leslie. “Met Gala 'Heavenly Bodies' Theme Inspires Spacey Celeb Looks.” CNet.com, 3 Oct. 2022. https://www.cnet.com/culture/met-gala-2018-heavenly-bodies-theme-space-fashion/#:~:text=The%20theme%20of%20this%20year's,practices%20and%20traditions%20of%20Catholicism.%22.
Nicolaou, Elena. “What to Know About the 2022 Met Gala Theme, 'Gilded Glamour.’” Today.com, 3 Oct. 2022. https://www.today.com/style/style/met-gala-theme-2022-gilded-glamour-meaning-rcna25358.
Pirovic, Jasmine. “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion – the 2021 Met Gala Theme Explained.” Russh.com, 3 Oct. 2022. https://www.russh.com/in-america-a-lexicon-of-fashion-2021-met-gala-theme/.