The year 2023 will mark the 75th year since the first Met Gala dinner took place in December. The initial purpose of the event was to raise funds for the Costume Institute, which merged with the Museum of Metropolitan Art in 1946. But it was Diana Vreeland, the former editor-in-chief at Vogue and consultant to the Costume Institute, who made the intimate event into the social event that it is today.
For the year 2023, the Met Gala theme will be a dedication to the late Karl Lagerfeld. The theme of the soirée is ‘Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty.’ The event will be held on May 1, 2023. However, many have raised concerns over the theme of this year’s Met Gala as Karl Lagerfeld, a tour de force in high fashion, was also a controversial figure, opining on subjects without any social filter. Like the theme, the gala itself has witnessed its fair share of controversial moments over the years.
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10) Demi Lovato Feeling Snubbed At The Met Gala 2016
Anna Wintour, the now-editor-in-chief of the Met Gala, is very particular about her guest list, and she curates and controls the entire Met Gala. But certain guests, like Demi Lovato, did not feel comfortable in their skin during the 2016 Met Gala. They wore a Moschino dress designed by Jeremy Scott. However, the gala did not please them, and they went directly to an AA meeting, as they said in an interview.
During an interview with Billboard in 2018, Demi Lovato said, “This one celebrity was a complete bitch and was miserable to be around. It was very cliquey. I remember being so uncomfortable that I wanted to drink.”
They continued, “I changed my clothes, but I still had my diamonds on—millions of dollars of diamonds on in an AA meeting. And I related more to the homeless people in that meeting who struggled with the same struggles that I deal with than the people at the Met Gala—fake and sucking the fashion industry’s dick.”
9) The Met Gala Theme For 2018
Andrew Bolton, the curator of the Costume Institute, weighed in on the controversial theme, ‘Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination,’ of the Met Gala in 2018. He said that he has analyzed the link between fashion and religion for five years. Instead of encapsulating every religion, the curator decided to go with Catholicism.
At the event, Rihanna was the star of the carpet, wearing a miter and gown inspired by papal robes. The Vatican supported the theme, but the theme received heavy backlash from people following the faith. Piers Morgan claimed that Met “crossed a line and was openly, brazenly disrespectful.” He said, “Everyone knows they’d never dared to do it to Islam or Judaism.”
8) A Streaker Gatecrashed The Met Gala Ball In 2014
During any fashion event, streakers are very common. They either want to make a political statement or are there merely for attention. The latter specimen of the streaker gatecrashed the Met Gala event in 2014. He was wearing a mankini and a gold chain to the event. Fortunately, he did not disgrace the red carpet. The security tackled him before he reached the red carpet.
7) Tina Fey Had A Lot To Say About The Ball
During an interview with David Letterman in 2015, Tina Fey had the best criticism of the whole Met Gala pizzazz. She was last seen on the carpet in 2010, when the theme was ‘American Woman: Fashioning A National Identity.’ She wore a Jimmy Choo jumpsuit for the event, accessorizing it with two carats of each cut diamond.
Tina Fey told David Letterman, “It is such a jerk parade. Every jerk from every walk of life is there, wearing, like, some stupid thing. . . I dragged my husband along with me, which I’m still in trouble for.”
The 30 Rock actress continued, “Everyone is there, everyone. If you had a million arms, all the people you would want to punch are there. Clearly, I will never go again.”
6) Kendall Jenner Wearing A Sheer Dress
The Kardashian-Jenner clan knows to bare it all! But Kendall Jenner does it better than all when it comes to sheer, see-through dresses. Remember the Cannes Film Festival in 2018? Kendall wore a sheer dress that showed her nipples! But in 2017, Kenny made everyone drop their jaws with a barebutt dress designed by La Perla’s Julia Haart.
After making a fashion statement, she made a statement about her look. Kenny said, “It’s pretty sexual, but, yeah, it’s cool. It’s like, it’s very like, I don’t know. I always like something that’s a little controversial, so that’s kind of that.”
5) Tom Ford Criticized Katy Perry For Her 2019 Met Gala Look
During the 2019 Met Gala, when the theme was Camp, Katy Perry dared to wear two obscure outfits in one night. On the red carpet, she became the human version of a chandelier. Moschino was behind this look. But at night, she changed into a hamburger costume for the afterparty.
In Anna: The Biography, Tom Ford wrote about the degeneration of the Met Ball. He wrote, “It’s turned into a costume party. You didn’t have to dress like a hamburger, you didn’t have to arrive in a van where you were standing up because you couldn’t sit down because you wore a chandelier.”
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4) The Smoking Incident
We all know that the best Met Gala 2017 pictures came from the restroom! Be it Kylie Jenner’s star-studded bathroom selfie or Bella Hadid, Dakota Johnson, and Stella McCartney’s bad-ass smoking picture. However, it had legal repercussions for smokers. It violated the Smoke-Free Air Act, leading to stars paying $100 in fines. The donors were very unhappy with the act, claiming that it disrespected the art collection.
3) Sara Jessica Parker’s 2015 Met Gala Look
The theme of the Met Gala 2015 was ‘China: Through the Looking Glass.’ In an already controversial theme due to cultural appropriation, Sara Jessica Parker arrived at a controversial piece. She wore a headpiece designed by Philip Treacy. The headpiece appropriated or rather fueled, the stereotype of the villainized Chinese dragon lady.
2) Kim Kardashian Wearing The Iconic Marilyn Monroe Dress
The year 2022 was one of the worst years for the Met Gala, where the celebrities did not understand the Gilded Age! Amidst the theme debacle, Kim Kardashian created controversy by wearing the Marilyn Monroe dress.
Marilyn wore the dress in 1962, singing ‘Happy Birthday, Mr. President’ for John F. Kennedy. Ripley’s Believe It or Not! had the dress, and they lent it to Kim. She tried an extreme diet to fit into it, but she still could not fit in the dress, leading to its damage.
1) Solangé And Jay-Z Elevator Controversy
There certainly were billion dollars on that fateful elevator! In 2014, Solangé and Jay-Z got into a brawl in an elevator while they were heading to the Met Gala afterparty. During this time, Jay-Z was cheating on Beyoncé with Rachel Roy. A source said that Yoncé’s sister ran into her before heading to the party. TMZ procured the video, and it went viral. Later, the family released a statement saying that the two had sorted things out and the family was back together.
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