Fashion and Accessibility

What Changed at the 2022 Met Gala?

Cover Photo by Miguel Gonzalez on Unsplash

When an alleged leak of the Met Gala 2022 invitee list was posted onto the internet weeks ahead of the event, social media exploded with horror over the inexplicable: influencers were invited. Every year, without fail, when the Met Gala carpet goes live there is always some furor that those who have made their careers and names known outside of the traditional celebrity avenue had the gall to show up. In the past five years, influencers are becoming continuously present at fashion events that were previously gate kept from those outside of the celebrity realm. And as celebrities themselves are seemingly becoming less and less immune to criticism for their fashion choices, influencers, among others, are filling in the gaps to prove that it’s not just up to those with unimaginable access to be fashionable. In the year of 2022 A.C, are we finally seeing the death of celebrity fashion culture?

Celebrities seen as fashion icons and influences goes back not simply decades, but centuries. Monarchs dictated fashion trends among the nobility in the 1800s and prior, with the most famous example coming to mind being Marie Antoinette — who, being unaware of French politics, set outrageously ostentatious fashion trends. However, as the middle classes in various countries began to gain more financial power,, the nobility would quickly change trends to separate themselves from the lower classes.

BY MURRAY GARRETT/GETTY IMAGES. / VANITY FAIR

 In the 1900s, with movies and television shows becoming codified within pop culture, the actresses who graced screens globally exploded as fashion icons - think Marilyn Monroe, Aubrey Hepburn, and Elizabeth Taylor. And while models themselves too became pop fashion culture icons in the 60’s, it wasn’t until the 90’s and the birth of the Supermodel (think Naomi Campbell or Kate Moss) that models became bonafide celebrities. Fashion designers made muses of these icons, clamoured to work with them, and developed a symbiotic relationship with celebrities where one almost could not exist without the other. The relationship between fashion and the common celebrity is based on one simple premise: Inaccessibility to the masses. 

From The Devil Wears Prada, 2006

One of the most iconic lines Meryl Streep has ever delivered was her monologue in the movie ‘The Devil Wears Prada’; explaining to Anne Hathaway’s frumpy, unfashionable character that despite the latter’s derision of the world of fashion, it was designer couture houses that set off a trickle-down reaction to the very shirt she wore on her back. When luxury fashion designers send new designs down the runway, and celebrities begin to wear them, the effect is almost always immediate as fast fashion companies rush to copy these trends and provide them to a public hungry for access to designs they wouldn’t otherwise be able to purchase. In this way, luxury designer brands have continued to solidify their grip over the fashion world, and celebrities are able to preserve their image as those with access to the otherwise inaccessible. 

A crucial aspect of this relationship is the runway look, in which celebrities are given access to designer clothing in order to market the brand and fashion house. However, in the past five years, influencers are increasingly beginning to work with the same luxury fashion houses, and celebrities are beginning to care less and less about working with designers. For example, consider Emma Chamberlain, a Youtuber with a whopping 11.4 million subscribers, who was invited to the 2022 Met Gala and was lent a Louis Vuitton for her outfit and vintage Cartier diamonds. On the other hand, singer Lana Del Rey made headlines when she chose to wear a five hundred dollar dress that she purchased at the mall to the 2020 Grammy’s. Many other celebrities faced criticism for their 2022 Met Gala outfits for being off- theme, wearing unfashionable ensembles, or both at one of the most exclusive fashion events. Viewers quickly took to the internet to note how non-celebrities were blowing those who should have unimaginable access to whatever they fancy, out of the water. Social media celebrated Telemundo Genesis Suero for outshining the very guests she was covering. Others responded by showcasing what they themselves would have worn if invited, proving that good taste (or the ability to follow a guided theme) can’t be bought with money. 

Image from Cosmopolitan Gallery

Fashion influencers who made their career on incredibly accessible platforms such as Youtube, Instagram, and TikTok have already drastically changed the fashion landscape. Models, having in the past been scouted via nepotism or networks formed by financial privilege, are now being signed after making it large on TikTok (example, @Wisdm8). Independent designers are now able to learn outside of exclusive fashion academies and cultivate their own following rather than relying on the promotion of institutions such as Vogue or New York Fashion Week. And those very fashion institutes and luxury fashion houses themselves are struggling to maintain their inaccessible facade as celebrities are starting to lose interest and the field is becoming more democratised. 

While these changes within our culture have been over a decade in the making, many in the public are still surprised when influencers and others with careers built outside of gate-kept celebrity culture are included inn the seemingly exclusive realm of couture. For some, this may be a great loss of the haute fashion culture, while others may see this as vindication for the death of a culture pushed by the inaccessible. It may take another five to ten years to discern whether the effects of dismantling fashion’s haughty iron gates will last, or if our society’s capitalistic thirst to access luxury at all costs will simply leave this trend as a blip in mainstream fashion culture.