Met Gala – Can we make kindness next year’s theme?
When will the Met Gala finally forego the fur & feathers and choose kindness?
As news outlets fill our feeds with the wild and creative looks wandering the #MetGala carpet, we can’t help but wonder, when will designers finally get truly creative and forego outdated and cruel materials derived from animals?
Once again, fur and, particularly, feathers swept up and down the white, red and blue carpet of the Met Gala and we couldn’t help but feel let down, that once again cruelty was being brandished as luxury.
The ‘Choupettes’
With the theme of the event celebrating Karl Lagerfeld, the infamous fashion designer behind Chanel and Fendi, many famous faces paid homage to his beloved cat, Choupette. This was done to varying degrees of innovation and success.
Jared Leto, for example, donned a full fur-suit to become the famous feline, complete with cat head. Yes, perhaps it is faux, but we’d love to see less fur being used and celebrated as a desirable fabric.
Doja Cat’s efforts saw less fur, but sadly included a dress that at the bottom was filled with white feathers.
The mass production of feathers regularly relies on live plucking, where workers forcefully restrain birds (most commonly geese as they supply the down product market) and rip their feathers out of their skin whilst they struggle and scream in pain.
Our favourite homage to Choupette was made by Lil Nas X, who chose to love and showcase his own body and donned just some silver paint to adorn his own skin and a crystallised whiskered face that provided a bold and stylish nod to the late fashion mogul’s beloved cat. Purrfect.
The lows
Whilst fluffy tulle and pearls were high on the agenda, sadly fur and feathers also made quite the appearance.
Rihanna opted to turn up in a fur coat whilst Florence Pugh and Viola Davis donned large plumes of feathers as the center-pieces to their ensembles.
With so many other textiles on offer and so many more innovative, beautiful and cruelty-free options out there to get creative with, we can’t help but feel disappointed that designers still choose to work with the skins and plumes that only look good on the bodies that they were born upon; the animals.
The highs
There were a few highlights however!
Alongside the glittering Lil Nas X, our other top guests included Dua Lipa, Kristen Stewart and Jennie, who all opted to wear it kind by choosing vintage pieces, and making it clear that ‘preloved’ is most definitely in.
Deciding not to go ‘in with the new’, each of these figures honoured their own styles with preloved classic, timeless pieces that look just as good now as they did when first designed all those years ago.
Known for its purpose to showcase creative and innovative style, we hope that the Met Gala can be more forward-thinking in the future and put cruelty-free and sustainable choices in the spotlight to empower designers to steer away from outdated cruel textiles and show that fashion can and should always be kind.
