The Met Gala Shows Where the Power in Fashion Lies — Which Makes Zendaya's Choice Intriguing

The Met Gala and its red carpet are an annual x-ray of the place of power in fashion and in the adjacent worlds of celebrity, Hollywood and music.

It shows us who is inside and who is outside, who is above and who is below. It's a heat map showing us the connections between culture and entertainment, between the establishment and new money, between the tech billionaires who have the deep pockets to fund parties like these and the designers whose dresses their women want to wear. These are the new corridors of soft power, and the Met Gala lifts the veil on alliances, quarrels and estrangements.

It's an evening of sublime dresses and serious. money. The fashion-as-entertainment Superbowl raised almost £17 million last year for New York's Metropolitan Museum. As a reminder, the Met's second highest-grossing fundraiser brought in around £4.5 million.

Talking point #1: The unexpected star of the evening was John Galliano. Zendaya, who, as Gala co-chair and the hottest celebrity of the moment, had all eyes on her choice of dress, chose to wear two dresses by the disgraced designer in 2010.

 Zendaya's arrival look was a Maison Margiela RobeShow image in full screen

The Met Gala Shows Where the Power in Fashion Lies — Which Makes Zendaya's Choice Intriguing

The Met Gala and its red carpet are an annual x-ray of the place of power in fashion and in the adjacent worlds of celebrity, Hollywood and music.

It shows us who is inside and who is outside, who is above and who is below. It's a heat map showing us the connections between culture and entertainment, between the establishment and new money, between the tech billionaires who have the deep pockets to fund parties like these and the designers whose dresses their women want to wear. These are the new corridors of soft power, and the Met Gala lifts the veil on alliances, quarrels and estrangements.

It's an evening of sublime dresses and serious. money. The fashion-as-entertainment Superbowl raised almost £17 million last year for New York's Metropolitan Museum. As a reminder, the Met's second highest-grossing fundraiser brought in around £4.5 million.

Talking point #1: The unexpected star of the evening was John Galliano. Zendaya, who, as Gala co-chair and the hottest celebrity of the moment, had all eyes on her choice of dress, chose to wear two dresses by the disgraced designer in 2010.

 Zendaya's arrival look was a Maison Margiela RobeShow image in full screen

What's Your Reaction?

like

dislike

love

funny

angry

sad

wow