Every year, the Metropolitan Museum of Art hosts a large fundraising gala in partnership with Vogue to celebrate the opening of the Costume Institute’s themed exhibit. Dubbed “fashion’s biggest night out”, the Met Gala draws celebrities, socialites, fashionistas, and anyone able to secure a coveted invite from Dame Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue. This year’s event has been postponed, so instead we imagined what the Met Gala would be with all of our favorite fashion-forward characters from fiction.
We humbly present About Time: Fashion and the Space-Time Continuum, a galaxy of fashion, hosted by Master of Ceremonies Cesar Flickerman & Effie Trinket.
Cesar: WELCOME, welcome welcome welcome to this years Met Gala, in support of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. I’m your host, Cesar Flickerman, and I’m here with my delightful cohost, Effie Trinket. This year’s theme is About Time: Fashion and the Space-Time Continuum. It’s a special theme this year, isn’t it Effie?
Effie: That’s right, we’ve spent months getting ready for tonight and now it’s finally here! I’m so excited to see how our guests are going to interpret this theme. I have a feeling we’re going to see lots of looks inspired by history tonight, but time, as we know, is a wibbley-wobbley mess, so we could see some forward-thinking choices too.
Cesar: This is fashion’s biggest night of the year, and these guests have been working with designers on unique pieces just for this walk up the red steps. I want to see glam! Pizzaz! I want to see dresses as big as a house! I want to see through space and time with these looks!
Coming first up the steps is Bruce Wayne, one of the museum’s biggest benefactors and one of our hosts for the evening. Mr. Wayne has given millions of dollars to the museum over the years, and has arrived wearing a classic black suit and a bowtie, looking very dapper indeed. Not really on theme, but who are we to judge one of the world’s most eligible bachelors! Timeless is one interpretation, right?
Effie: Here we have Kell Maresh, fresh from Red London, looking striking in a red brocade jacket and tails that surprisingly doesn’t clash with that ginger hair! Look at that detailing! Those are hand-stitched flourettes and gold button detailing along the front and gold braided epaulettes on the shoulders, very reminiscent of a military uniform but of course, made couture for tonight. But oh—what’s that? He’s slipping off the jacket and twisting it over to reveal another jacket underneath! That’s right fashionistxs, we have our first red carpet costume change of the evening! Kell Maresh is now wearing a glittering black dinner jacket! A very modern cut, very well-fitted. How delightful! We love a surprise, don’t we, Cesar?
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Cesar: There’s nothing we love more than drama!
Effie: Do you think we’ll see any more of that tonight?
Cesar: One can only hope, Effie dear. We’ve got so many more looks to see!
Effie: Oh, look, here comes Amilyn Holdo! She looks stunning in her signature lilac hair and a drapey ivory gown with a strong square shoulder. There’s a little crystal and gold belt detail under all that draped fabric to add a bit of glimmer. A very elegant silhouette, wouldn’t you say?
Cesar: Very elegant indeed! And what’s that I spy? That looks like a crystal ring in the shape The Alliance Starbird! Well, we certainly know whose side Holdo is on tonight!
Effie: We love a strong statement!
Cesar: Yes we do, and a potentially risky statement too! Now, who do we see coming round the corner?
Effie: I do believe that’s Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy! These two have been staples at the gala for many years, and always look elegant. Mr. Malfoy has his trusty cane with him and his hair pulled back with a velvet bow, a very classic look. But Mrs. Malfoy’s dress, wow…
Cesar: Yes, Mrs. Malfoy is wearing an incredible ballgown that takes up almost the entire width of the staircase. It’s an enchanting strapless silver number with what appears to be carefully beaded numbers around the circumference of the skirt, just like the face of a clock. Each one of those is hand-stitched, that must have taken weeks to do! And oh! What is that! The numbers are moving and changing as she poses on the carpet! That’s right viewers, her dress is transforming right in front of our eyes!
Effie: Now that’s what I’d call a real passage of time, wouldn’t you?
Cesar: That’s absolutely right, Narcissa Malfoy has turned herself into a shape-shifting clock and I love it!
Effie: Alright, coming up the stairs are Avatar Korra and her date, Asami Sato, heiress to the Future Industries. Now, this is a power couple if I’ve ever seen one, Cesar.
Cesar: That’s right, their budding romance has had society buzzing ever since they made their first public appearance a few years back. This is a couple we love to see thrive together, and here they are in matching holographic fabric…Asami in a one shouldered gown with a beautiful long train and diamond detailing around the bodice, and Korra in a matching tailored suit with a blue tie, a little salute to the Water Tribe, looks like!
Effie: I absolutely love that fabric choice, that’s exactly what staring into a nebula is like, right? A beautiful shimmering cascade down those steps.
Cesar: Here we have prominent psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter, and that. suit. is. KILLER.
Effie: It looks almost alive, doesn’t it? That’s a gorgeous deep red velvet suit with a bold black silk tie and pocket square, and a beautiful antler-shaped pin on his lapel. Absolutely devastating. That fabric is absolutely otherworldly, it’s shimmering under the lights of the camera flashes, almost like it’s…wet somehow…what is that splashed all over his suit?
Cesar: Maybe it’s better not to ask too many questions, right? Speaking of fashionable power couples, here comes King Margo and former king Eliot of Fillory. Now, these are two people that really know how to make a red carpet moment.
Effie: And they have not disappointed today. Eliot is wearing a deep emerald green silk suit, a classic three-piece with tulle floral detailing around the collar and cuffs, that looks handprinted, almost real…
Now Margot is really the stunner here, as she always is. This is a gorgeous dress covered in what looks like live flowers, very reminiscent of the Fillorian Rainbow Bridge, gorgeous shades of pink and purple and blue. And—oh no, it looks like the flowers are dying as she’s walking up the steps, that seems like poor planning on the designers part, they could have freshened her up before sending her down here! That’s right, the petals are falling and turning brown—but oh, look at that! We’ve got new blooms beginning on her dress! The flowers are coming back to life! And it looks like we’ve got fresh vines forming crowns for both of them! What a wow moment, King Margo and Eliot Waugh making a real statement about life and death on the steps tonight.
Cesar: That was really something special. Now, here’s another red carpet staple, our dear friend Tony Stark! Mr. Stark looks absolutely dashing in a gold suit. This is a man that always looks great. And what’s this? He’s pressed a button on his cufflinks and—yes, that’s a hologram of himself in the Iron Man suit! That’s right, Tony Stark has brought his younger self as a date tonight. How did he manage that!
Effie: The man is a genius, I’ll tell ya.
Cesar: Truly inventive. We’ve got past Tony and current Tony walking up the steps together. Now that is a real show-stopping moment. Leave it to Tony Stark to create something truly memorable.
Effie: Now we’ve got someone very interesting coming up the steps. In a rare appearance, Thranduil, son of Oropher, Elven king of the Woodland Realm is marching elegantly through on his Elk steed, alongside his son Legolas. Both are wearing simple silver suits, with a leaf pattern in glittering thread. Wow, that Elven craftsmanship really is stunning up close. Do you think that elk will be allowed into the museum?
Cesar: Now of course, elves have an extended life, much more so than us mere humans. So they really exemplify time itself, don’t you think?
Effie: Absolutely, timeless beauty. I’m so excited about the two elegant ladies coming around the corner now. That’s Margaery Tyrell and her close friend, Sansa Stark. Two of the most stylish women in the Seven Kingdoms!
Cesar: So nice to see them together and smiling, don’t you think? We love seeing female friendship on this carpet.
Effie:: Gal pals!
Cesar: That’s right. Margaery is wearing a very daring dress, very low cut in the front indeed, with delicate crystal beading and a high slit up the leg. Sansa has on a gorgeous floor-length gown with intricate corsetry at the waist, both strong and sophisticated. Look at that stitching! This looks like a vintage fabric, does it?
Effie: We’ve heard from the designers that both girls are wearing fabrics sourced from every era of Westeros, stretching all the way back to the invasion of the Andals. And it looks like Sansa is wearing accessories and jewelry that belonged to her mother, including a beautiful necklace with the direwolf insignia of House Stark. We love a tribute, don’t we?
Cesar: Love a tribute. Now, I’m so excited about our next guest, the incredibly famous intergalactic DJ, Ruby Rhod.
Effie: This is a look I’ve been waiting to see! Ruby is wearing head to toe sequins in his signature jumpsuit style and giant platform shoes, with sequins in his hair too! He looks like a disco ball, doesn’t he? And there are two turntables attached to his chest and oh—that’s right, he’s going to play something for us!
Cesar: What is that song?
Effie: It sounds like several songs all at once! We’ve got a galactic mega mix playing, and the whole room has just come alive! We’re getting a whole music history lesson here. You know, music really transcends time and space and cultures. Ruby Rhod is working this red carpet. This man really knows how to command a room!
Cesar: Oh my goodness, look at what’s coming down the carpet!
Effie: Is that Jupiter Jones?
Cesar: That is Jupiter Jones in the most devastating dress I’ve ever seen.
Effie: It’s almost like the fabric itself is made of stars!
Cesar: I think that dress might actually be made of stars—it does appear to be changing with the light! That really is spectacular, this dress exactly mimics the night sky, and if we get a closer look we can make out constellations and distant planets. Looking at this gown is just like looking through a telescope, wouldn’t you say?
Effie: And she’s wearing a beautiful headpiece made of gold interlocking circles that seem to orbit each other. Jupiter Jones has completely shut down the Met steps with this dress, she is wearing the whole universe on her shoulders. What a beautiful moment!
Cesar: Well, folks, after that, there’s nothing more for us to do than head inside for the evening. We’ve seen some truly incredibly looks tonight, a great mix of magic and science. Thanks for spending time with us for a special evening at the museum, celebrating the Space-Time Continuum through fashion!
