Tara Sattar
The theme of the exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Anna Wintour Costume Center this year was fashion and technology. This meant that people like Andrew Bolton, the museum’s new head curator, along with Jonathan Ive of Apple — who served as a sponsor — spoke in lofty tones about the dichotomies of man versus machine, haute couture versus ready-to-wear, hand-sewn versus mass produced.
For lay people, it meant a carefully curated exhibit of wild designer gowns and a gala celebration on Monday night at which the bulk of celebrity attendants wore metallics.
The stylist Tabitha Simmons wore red and gold embroidered Dolce & Gabbana, looking rather like a chair in pre-revolutionary France.
And the Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o donned a celery-green, metallic Calvin Klein dress, and an updo that seemed to recall both “Star Wars” and Nina Simone.
At most major red carpet events, choices like these would be referred to as misfires.
The Fox News host Megyn Kelly had on a navy, fitted Badgley Mischka dress. There was glitter in her hair, which had been slicked back, Brigitte Nielsen style. “It was a lot of fun to wear it in a way that would ordinarily inspire a phone call from second-floor management, Ms. Kelly said.
Sarah Jessica Parker wore 18th-century-inspired men’s wear and said the evening was like a master class in fashion. “Sometimes you get an A and sometimes, it’s a pass-or-fail situation,” said Ms. Parker, who earned a fair share of ire last year for one such outfit.
And Madonna had on a black lace Givenchy dress by Riccardo Tisci that left almost nothing about her rear end or her bosom to the imagination.