Current Affairs: Met Gala 2014

by Claude Julian | ARCHIVES

Jay-Z and Beyonce led a long list of star studded celebrities that arrived at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala in New York on Monday, May 5. The red carpet was a background drop for many v-line cut gowns revealing plenty of breast exposure. You witnessed veteran Met Gala attendees such as Sarah Jessica Parker and Gisele Bundchen to Diane Kruger and Beyonce —- but there were a collection of stars that took their first trips up the famous red staircase this year. Lupita Nyong’o and Anna Kendrick were obvious first-timers, but can you believe it was Rachel McAdams, Reese Witherspoon’s, Kendall Jenner’s, Olivia Munn’s and Ryan Reynolds’ first time at the event? Sean Penn escorted by stunning girlfriend Charlize Theron made their first time appearance in grand style. Kim Karadishian, Kanye West and Rihanna buzzing presence drove the trolls of paparazzi photographers into a mad frenzy. The high-fashion event raises money in support of the museum’s costume institute, which was recently renovated.

This year’s Met Gala, also called the Met Ball, celebrates the late fashion designer Charles James. Charles James’s alias was “James Shape.” What better moniker could there be for a designer known as an architect of fashion and who sculpted dresses that remain as breathtaking today as they were when they were first shown?  James, the son of a British military man and an American heiress, was so possessed with vision that he is said to have dedicated three years and twenty thousand dollars to the refinement of a single sleeve. His perfectionism was such a part of his persona that in 1951, Vogue, ever supportive of the then New York-based couturier, could quip, without being too insider-y, that James “is about as disinterested in a suit’s special cut as an engineer is in a bridge.”

A garment cut was everything to the outspokenly driven James, who first came to fame as a teenage milliner who shaped his hats directly on his clients’ heads. Later, he would dress ladies like Blonde Venus Marlene Dietrich, beauty magnet Babe Paley, burlesque star Gypsy Lee Rose, and Standard Oil heiress Millicent Rogers, his greatest patron, in fairy-tale frocks whose magic was derived from their construction rather than their decoration. Some of these were so structured that they were practically able to stand on their own–much like their sui generis creator.

The Charles James: Beyond Fashion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala (May 5th), will track James’ life in as it appears in the Vogue archives.  The Met Gala, formally called the Costume Institute Gala is an annual fundraising gala for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York. It highlights the grand opening of the Costume Institute’s annual fashion exhibit. It is celebrated by an evening of fashion to match the theme of the exhibit. The affair, attended by personalities from the arts, fashion, high-society, film and music, has been held at the Met since 1946 and is considered to be the fashion industry’s premier annual red carpet event.

MET GALA 2014 GALLERY

For more of the Best Dressed and Worst Dressed celebrities live from the Met Gala 2014 red carpet, Visit

http://www.vogue.com/events/met-gala/