Why were there so many corsets on the Met Gala red carpet?
Yesterday, Harper’s Bazaar’s TikTok of the singer Tyla being carried up the Met Gala red carpet steps had more than 12 million views. She had to be picked up and placed down because her Balmain gown, a sand-covered, strapless column shape sculpted to her body, did not allow her to walk up the stairs. It was a beautifully crafted piece of fashion and a significant moment for the first-time Met Gala attendee, but it also seemed quite uncomfortable.
The dress code this year was ‘The Garden of Time’, and Tyla — who accessorised with an hourglass clutch — clearly had a blast with it. Olivier Rousteing, Balmain’s creative director, eventually cut off the bottom half of the gown so she could move more freely — creating another viral moment. Tyla’s dress might well be the most talked-about look of the evening, though it had competition in Kim Kardashian’s impossibly cinched-waist Maison Margiela gown and sweater, which were custom-designed by John Galliano. Kardashian has worn tiny-waisted looks for the past three years, but this was the most extreme yet.
Tyla was carried up the Met Gala steps
On social media, some commenters loved both looks, while others were critical, saying that these women were promoting unhealthy beauty standards. Many simply felt uncomfortable watching them look uncomfortable.
At times last night, the red carpet felt like an evolving conversation around morphing and shifting natural curves. Corsets were everywhere, with some stars, like Ashley Graham in Ludovic Saint Serinin, leaning into the bombshell archetype, and others taking a less literal, more nuanced approach.
Kim Kardashian in Maison Margiela
Chloe Sevigny wore a brilliantly tattered Victorian gown by Dilara Findokoglu that looked as though someone had ripped open the front, while Gigi Hadid’s dramatic corseted gown, designed by Thom Browne, was fashioned with a skirt made to look like a jacket slipping off and landing crinkled up on the ground. Precious Lee enhanced her natural shape in a form-fitting velvet black gown with wings by the emerging designer Bad Binch Tong Tong. Zendaya’s opening and closing looks, also by Galliano for Margiela, felt natural for her; corsets that didn’t alter, per se, but gave her a silhouette that fused together contemporary and classic.
Chloe Sevigny in Dilara Findokoglu
Taylor Russell’s incredible Loewe look was made from wood moulded to her torso, while Paloma Elsesser wore a fantastical balloon hem dress with a top sculpted to her form by H&M. Ambica Mod’s custom Loewe dress was photoprinted with the shape of the classic, corseted Charles James “petal dress”. Then of course came Doja Cat, whose version of body-hugging, clinging fashion came by way of a literal wet t-shirt dress by Vetements. A slew of other corsets graced the carpet, maybe even too many to count here, including Sydney Sweeny’s custom Miu Miu, Uma Thurman’s beautiful butterfly gown from Tory Burch, and Lily James in a classic, feminine Erdem piece.
Taylor Russell in Loewe
Why all the corsetry? Some of it is surely related to the Met Gala’s ever-escalating virality wars. The event’s red carpet has increasingly become less about the artistic value of fashion and more about trying to game the internet algorithms for attention. In the best-case scenarios, these body-conscious looks can do both, offering a level of camp that promotes craft and beauty and glamour, while simultaneously appealing to a universe of Gen Z kids glued to their livefeeds. Corsets and couture can be powerful modes of self-expression for a range of bodies and genders. Still, on such a visible night of fantasy-meets-reality fashion, there’s always the danger that these intricately made, one-of-a-kind pieces can be reduced to mere stunts.
The scale of sexiness on the Met Gala red carpet has gone full-throttle over the last few years; in the past, the glamazon vibes and naked dresses were typically reserved for the raucous afterparties and not schmoozing in the museum galleries. And while it can be empowering for young people to see famous women celebrating their natural shapes and embracing their sensuality in public, it can also be tricky not to take things too far and make it seem like they’re trapped in their clothes.
Zendaya in Maison Margiela by John Galliano
What’s important to remember, as Jameela Jamil pointed out on her Instagram yesterday, is that it’s not on one woman or one celebrity to find the happy medium here. The people who make the clothes and dress the celebrities and stream the content (many of whom are men), and magazines (like us as well!) have a responsibility too. At the very least, designers need to consider that their clothes, while having immense beauty and artistic integrity, are being seen by millions of people who watch E! News and have no clue what a corset means within fashion’s gated garden of time.
There’s always room for balance, and maybe that’s what the Met red carpet could benefit from moving forward. Behind many of those surrealist hourglass shapes and hyper cinched-waists was powerful fashion with forward momentum. The most successful looks from last night were those that felt like feats of design, not just feats of endurance.
Gigi Hadid in Thom Browne