Met Gala 2020: The Met Gala That Everyone Was Invited To
The 2020 Met Gala was the first of its kind to take place entirely on social media, and it was a shining example of solidarity during such an unprecedented and turbulent time. Reputed for its exalted status and exclusivity, this year's Met Gala’s transition to digital platforms resultantly transformed it into an event in which participation was no longer limited to the rich and famous.
Online fashion enthusiasts, nicknamed “High Fashion Twitter,” invited people from all reaches of the internet to showcase their finest fashions for the big night with the hashtag #HFTMetGala2020. Surely enough, Twitter and Instagram were awash with a myriad of images, collages, illustrations, and mood boards of the outfits people would have worn to the Met Gala in person. The #HFTMetGala2020 was invented by the aerospace engineering student Aria Olson, who also implored participants to donate to the International Medical Corps.
Further bridging the gap between celebrities and everyday fashionistas, the Metropolitan Museum of Art launched the viral #MetGalaChallenge, prompting everyone to recreate their favorite iconic looks from previous Met Gala. While someone of skating star Adam Rippon’s standing would expectedly have the means to wear Rihanna’s yellow Guo Pei cape dress from the 2015 Met Gala, it is rather impressive for the aforementioned creator of the #HFTMetGala2020 to flaunt a look from Thom Browne’s F/W collection. Even Rebeca, an assistant organizer of the online Met Gala, paid homage to modeling legend Twiggy with her display. One standout spectacle was the homemade recreation of Lady Gaga’s 2019 Met Gala gown made from pink bedsheets. Throughout the past decade social media has made the fashion industry’s elite more accessible to wider audiences, and now those very same online platforms are revealing the boundless creativity of those who likely have a future in the fashion industry themselves.
Photo credit: https://time.com/5831987/met-gala-2020/
Report: Nia Hunt
At the rise of Covid-19 many of us first questioned the timeline of fashion week and would we see the regular calendar continue - the question weighed over many of us for months! It was refreshing to see design houses and designers across the globe take advantage of the uncertainty and plow into production mode - thus my interest in Jerri Reid New York - The Black Designer based in Brooklyn New York wow’d instagram with his latest collection paying homage to the Black Is King film which debuted earlier this year in July. I was taken aback at quick of a turn round the young designer produced and released his well crafted designs reflecting some of the films most memorable moments.