The Met Gala red carpet remains the world’s most exacting stage for fashion-as-performance. While the Costume Institute exhibition unfolds inside the museum, the real drama—and enduring cultural commentary—happens on those marble steps. This year’s theme, “Fashion Is Art,” invited interpretations ranging from architectural couture to unabashed costume, and as always, the results were a study in intention versus excess.
What connects this annual ritual to lingerie history is the persistent negotiation of exposure and concealment. Consider Beyoncé’s masterful redefinition of the naked dress—a silhouette that traces its lineage to the sheer illusion gowns of the 1930s, when designers like Madeleine Vionnet used bias-cut silk to suggest the body beneath. Or Rihanna, who has used the Met steps to cement her status as fashion royalty, often channeling the subversive elegance of early 20th-century corsetry reinterpreted as armor.
Even the misses offer lessons. Jared Leto’s full-body Choupette homage echoed the theatrical excess of 19th-century stage lingerie, where performers wore elaborate, impractical pieces to command attention. Katy Perry’s chandelier ensemble? A nod to the crystal-beaded bodices that once adorned burlesque stars.
From the Mark Hotel to the Carlyle, New York becomes a living gallery of draped silk, lace, and structural boning. The hits commit to their vision; the misses remind us that risk is the price of entry. At the Met, that tension is everything.
Originally reported by WWD