OPINION: On Monday night, fashion’s shiniest stars will come together at The Metropolitan Museum of Art for the 70th Met Gala, or Met Ball.
It’s fashion’s version of the Oscars, attended by the biggest names in design, film, music and the arts.
In previous years it gave the world Kim Kardashian’s “grandma’s curtains” dress, Rihanna’s “omelet” gown, set to provocative themes like Punk: Chaos to Couture to Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty.
But this year’s theme pushes straight past ‘titillating’ and slams smack-bang into ‘tasteless’. Titled Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination, guests are expected to look to the Catholic Church for inspiration for their red carpet outfits
It’s easy to see what’s coming. Madonna, the queen of twisted Catholic iconography, will inevitably lace herself into a racy corset and a crucifix (she’s already posted a pic on Instagram of the pale pink one she’s planning to wear).
Someone else will reference the virginal Catholic brides that designers like John Galliano and Christian Lacroix love to send down a runway.
There’ll be opulent ermine and velvet robes, heavy gold accessories, towering headpieces, elaborate jewellery — mixed up with sexy little hints of naughty nuns, naked cherubs, virgins and Catholic schoolgirls.
