Circular Fashion at the Met Gala
A morning scroll of all the archival Vintage & upcycled looks from last night
The new Met exhibit is “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” which will include about 250 objects spanning four centuries. Sleeping Beauties are referencing the pieces that are too fragile to be worn again - but are being awakened and brought out of storage to give them life, sometimes in a non-traditional and AI-fueled way.
An aspect that seems to be overlooked in the discourse surrounding this exhibit is the importance of garment care and longevity. The ability to showcase 400-year-old fashion is a testament to an era when clothing was meticulously crafted, cared for, and repaired to extend its lifespan. While the exhibit celebrates the ephemeral allure of natural elements, the fashion industry itself poses a threat to the very beauty it seeks to emulate, through unsustainable practices and a disregard for garment longevity. Perhaps a missed opportunity lies in failing to delve deeper into the art of repair, refashioning, and caring for clothing in a manner that allows garments to last centuries. There could have been an incorporation of educational elements on mending, upcycling and extending the life cycle of garments and could have fostered a more holistic appreciation for the harmonious coexistence of fashion and the environment it draws inspiration from.
The dress code for the Met Gala was“The Garden of Time.” Inspired by J.G. Ballard's short story of the same title, written in 1962. There was a handful of inspired by or new iterations of vintage pieces, one interpretation of the theme to bring new life to historical garments such as Nicole Kidman’s Balenciaga which was a recreation of the one Dorian Leigh wore for Harper’s Bazaar in 1951 photographed by Richard Avedon.
I wish we had seen some of the vintage pieces that Emily of Pre-loved Podcast had predicted, there wasn’t as much actual archival vintage as I expected given the theme but we did see more refashioning of materials than at previous Met Gala’s.
To preface- I am not a fashion critic, this isn’t about who looked best, or how they should have styled it- just sharing where we did get to see circular fashion show up at fashion’s biggest night.
Here we go!
Zendaya has been wearing a lot of vintage on her press tours so it was to be expected that she would have an archival moment somewhere as a co-host. Her second look was a vintage black taffeta Givenchy spring 1996 haute couture dress designed by John Galliano with a SS 2007 McQueen by @philiptreacy hat from Philips archive. Her stylist, Law Roach shared this video of both pieces making their runway debuts.
Amanda Seyfried asked Prada for a more “sustainable” dress so they designed her one with deadstock fabric repurposed from their Spring 2009 collection. She spoke to NYT about attending the Met Gala amid global events including climate change.
Marni takes the cake for upcycling at the Met Gala- Rita Ora’s look consisted of beads from the 2nd Century BC that had been sourced for months leading up to the event.
Troye Sivan in pieces of Prada Men’s 2008 Fall collection - of any garment from the night, this Prada office bondage top is the one I would want the most for my own collection.
ANOTHER UPCYCLED MOMENT FOR MARNI! Charli XCX donned a custom Marni creation made from vintage t-shirts spanning the 50s to 70s. This repurposing showcased circularity but also celebrated the sentimental value of well-worn t-shirts. On the red carpet, Charli expressed how a cherished white tee, gets worn with love, and becomes nearly irreplaceable, yet those beloved garments were transformed into something strikingly new breathing new life into nostalgic relics was one of my favorite interpretations of the theme.
Kendall Jenner in Givenchy by Alexandra McQueen 1999 Archival Vintage dress. That collection had been presented on mannequins so the dress had never been worn before. This is a good example of the importance of the story of the garment - some people (random people I follow on the internet) found this dress boring or said it was not on theme and just another Kardashian showing off their backside (it’s verrrry low in the back), but once you know it had never been worn before, not even just once down the runway, and that Kendall awakened it - it’s perfectly on theme.
Her second look was Givenchy by Alexander McQueen S/S 1997
Emrata in A/W 2001 Atelier Versace Haute Couture from Tab Vintage - one of my favorite vintage shops, check them out!
Ivy Getty in Conner Ives. At the time of writing, I could not find information on this dress, however, Conner Ives often repurposes materials, like this dress from a 300-year-old tapestry, so I figured given the theme they would do something similar for this too - if you know, please share!
Demi Moore’s dress designed by Harris Reed incorporated vintage wallpaper!
Madelyn Cline in Tommy Hilfiger, the dress was custom however that teeny tiny clutch was from eBay and it was upcycled with the same fabric of her dress. This was multi-channel marketing at its finest as Madelyn was also in the commercial for the Vogue x eBay sponsorship/partnership showing throughout the live stream. Either way, we love that a conversation around shopping pre-loved fashion was taking place.
Rachel Anne Sennot in a Balenciaga dress crafted from multiple dresses of different eras from the 30s to the 60s. I hope there is content around what the original dresses looked like!
Jazz Charton in 2014 Nina Ricci- not exactly vintage (must be at least 20 years old, but still not new!) Here is the same dress on eBay!
One more vintage because I loved this Dior by John Galliano that Zendaya wore to the pre-Met Gala dinner.
Thank you for reading this very niche post, I appreciate your love and support! ICYMI, I opened a vintage shop alongside Hyer Good bags in NYC. You can visit us at 21 Greenwich Ave and follow along on ig.