He met Gala’s guests, he adapts!
That was the order of ON high, since the Metropolitan Museum of Art revealed the clothing code for its luxurious annual fashion celebration in May: “Managed for you”, a wink to the approach of the accompanying exhibition in the suit and the male clothes.
It is an adequate concept, intended to be generously interpreted, of course, for the first MET gala exhibition in more than 20 years to focus exclusively on male clothes, specifically the black style in male clothes over the centuries.
The MET costume institute also announced on Tuesday that it will relive what it called a long -standing tradition of a “host committee”, basically a new list of high profile celebrities at the top of the gala hosts previously announced: Pharrell Williams, Lewis Hamilton, Colman Domingo, at $ Ap Rocky and LeBron James. (The editor of Vogue, Anna Wintour, who supervises the gala every year, completes the list).
The new committee includes a series of luminaires from several fields: the Simone Biles athletes and their husband Jonathan Owens, Angel Reese and Sha’carri Richardson; The filmmakers Spike Lee, Tonya Lewis Lee and Regina King; Ayo Edebiri, Audra McDonald and Jeremy Pope actors; Doechii musicians, Usher, Tyla, Janelle Monáe and André 3000; Chimamanda Author Ngozi Adichie; Artists Jordan Casteel, Rashid Johnson and Kara Walker; playwright Jeremy O. Harris and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins; And Fashion Figures Grace Wales Bonner, Edward Enninful, Dapper Dan and Olivier Rousteing.
The famous chef Kwame Onwuachi will create the gala menu. A great fundraising for the costume institute, the annual event, which last year brought a record sum of more than $ 26 million, also launches the spring exhibition. This year’s exhibition, “Superfine: Sastroling Black Style”, will extend longer than the shows before six months, and is inspired by the book by Monica L. Miller, “Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the styling of Black Diasporic Identity “.
“This year’s issue is not only timely,” said Usher, “but also talks about our rich culture that should always be widely celebrated.”
Richardson added: “Our style is not just what we use, this is how we move, how we hurt our space, how we tell our history without saying a word.” Both members of the host committee spoke in a statement provided by the MET.
The MET says that the program “presents a cultural and historical examination of the black style from the 18th century until today through the lens of dandiism.” Miller, a Barnard professor and a guest curator of the show, along with the star curator of the MET Andrew Bolton, said in an event of the museum last year that in the 1780s, the “dandies” were often defined as “men who lent Different attention and sometimes excessive to dress. “
“The historical definitions of dandyism range from absolute precision in clothing and tailoring to extravagance and fabulous,” said Miller. The show will focus specifically on black dandyism; In more general terms, it will narrate the ways in which black people have used clothing and fashion over the centuries to transform their identities, the museum said.
Among the artists who contribute to the exhibition design are Torkwase Dyson, who will use their exclusive “hypershapas” to create independent monumental sculptures or “architectural zones.” The artist Iké Ude, consultant of the show, will select a section that stands out to Julius Soubise, one of the first black dandi who challenged social norms in the 18th century in London.
The show will be divided into 12 sections, each of which represents a characteristic that defines the “dandy” style: property, presence, distinction, disguise, freedom, champion, respectability, jook, heritage, beauty, great and cosmopolitanism.
The Met Gala will take place on May 5. “Superfine: Sastroling Black Style” will be open to the public from May 10 to October 26.
