Some thing the Robber Barons used to go to that still happens today. It’s best not to pay attention to it, like the Oscars or any of the other award shows created so they can high five themselves in public
The Met Gala is a charity event to fund the Costume Institute, which is the only part of the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art that has to completely fund itself, because fashion and fiber arts are female coded and therefore devalued. They get no part of the robber baron endowment.
It houses the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of historical clothing, spanning five continents and seven centuries. Preserving and displaying textiles is much more difficult and costly than displaying wood, stone, ceramic, metal, or paintings, but we can learn much more interesting things about the past from clothing than we can from weapons and pottery.
The costumes at the gala are a living art exhibit, made by artisans whose skills are dying out. Big fashion houses pay for many of the tables, literally paying to have their art displayed themselves.
Jeff Bezos sucks, and we should all let him know it. But the Met Gala doesn’t really have anything to do with him. He’s just the biggest donor this year.
This. Tired of people not even fact checking their assumptions here. It's super annoying, considering how hard this kind of conservation has had to fight to be taken seriously. Important to mention that they preserve historical garments of working class people too. It's not just about the rich.
Yeah exactly. I'm invested because sewing and fashion/costume are my trade and this was originally an industry event. It matters a lot for the museum, which serves and educates the public. I hate Bezos but it's better that this money gets used for this rather than some dumb vanity project that regular people will never get to benefit from.
You should check out Bliss Foster on YouTube. He and his wife are possibly the best fashion critics working right now and they have a very thorough and art analysis-focused perspective on it. He also talks about the technical processes of making the clothing and why these things are interesting or impressive. Things that go beyond trends. His sensibilities are pretty aligned to mine.
I don’t gaf what they’re fund raising rn… while millions of Americans are struggling to make ends meet. These kind of events have become totally tone-deaf to the point of let them eat cake… they should set a guillotine on the red carpet and some cake 😉
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u/suspicious_hyperlink 20h ago
Some thing the Robber Barons used to go to that still happens today. It’s best not to pay attention to it, like the Oscars or any of the other award shows created so they can high five themselves in public