MET GALA 2016: THE RISE OF THE FASHION CELEBRITY

The red carpet of the Met Gala has never been been boring. It has played host to legendary celebrities, iconic fashion, and lots of drama. In past years, exhibit themes have featured a wide array of fashions from punk rockers to the house of Chanel to an Old Hollywood couturier. Without fail, the gala is an ode to thinking outside the box - melding art, fashion, and celebrity into one magical night. The most shocking thing on the red carpet this year, however, had nothing to do with the fashion.

Instead, it was the somewhat familiar presence of Giuliana Rancic, reporter for E! News and supreme authority on red carpet coverage year-round, that made waves in the fashion world this May. For the first time ever, E! was allowed onto the Met Gala red carpet to schmooze with the models and millionaires, bringing the somewhat elitist gala into the living room of any person with a television and an affinity for the question: “Who are you wearing?”

In many ways, a few additional press passes at the Met Gala seems trivial. A cable channel best known for Keeping Up with the Kardashians is now covering a fashion gala, what’s the big deal? To fully understand the gravity of this change, one must look at the bigger picture.

The Met Gala is a historically exclusive event. As one can see in the recently released documentary The First Monday in May, chairwoman Anna Wintour spends months painstakingly crafting the guest list, attempting to make it as short as possible. The most recent gala had only 610 attendees, with tickets costing $30,000 per person. The gala may be a representation of current society, as many argue, but it certainly is not an event for the masses.

With E!’s coverage, the gala is being brought into the mainstream and broadcasted into the homes of everyday people all over the world. Whereas before, devoted fashion followers would have to obsessively check social media for the occasional celebrity Instagram selfie or snapchat feed to see what was happening at the gala, E! covered it live, giving people an inside look at an event that previously was for insiders only.

This change may be small, but it signifies a lot about the shifting nature of the Met Gala, and the world of fashion. E!’s red carpet coverage, despite their obvious depiction of red carpet style, is focused on one thing and one thing only: celebrities. Although there are many television, film, and musical personalities in attendance at the Met Gala, the guests of note have always been those from the fashion industry - models, designers, and other people that could be described as “behind the scenes”, people that you would have to follow fashion to hear about. But the very nature of celebrity within the fashion world is quickly changing.

Models and designers are everywhere in modern media. Their social media accounts have racked up millions of followers, and their lives are constantly discussed in tabloids across the world. Gigi Hadid is jumping from one hot, young rocker to the next, Karlie Kloss is a member of Taylor Swift’s ever growing girl gang, and Kendall Jenner is living life as only a member of the Kardashian clan could. Even beyond the world of models, designers such as Olivier Rousteing are dominating the world of social media, delighting fans from Milan to Milwaukee with his photos of lavish gowns and international celebrities. One question sits at the forefront of all this buzz: Is the fashion world attracting celebrities, or creating them?

One would hope that the Met Gala itself, the proverbial State of the Union for the fashion industry, would hold the answers to these questions. Is someone like Gigi Hadid a model, or is she merely a celebrity who sometimes “does fashion”? Is an event like the Met Gala more about the famous people, or the fashion? On a red carpet that plays host to everyone from tech titans to politicians to oscar winners, however, these questions seem almost irrelevant.

What is relevant is the clothes. Whatever love affair the fashion industry might be having with celebrities, or vice versa, at the end of the day, the fashion industry still revolves around one thing: fashion. At a gala that celebrates the blending of art, society, and fashion, questions such as the ones above begin to feel somewhat trivial.

At the gala this year, as with every gala before it, the real stars were not the celebrities, or the musicians, or the models. Instead, they were Zac Posen’s light-up dress, Marchesa’s social media powered gown, and the countless other breathtaking, innovative, unforgettable pieces inside the exhibit. In a room filled with that much talent and sparkle, at a gala with a strict “no selfies” policy, who really cares what people on Instagram are saying?