CHRIS THURMAN: The disturbing parallels between the Met Gala and America’s Gilded Age
It was a spectacle of outrageous wealth disparity while women’s liberation still seems a distant goal
The Met Gala is an annual rite of fashionista hedonism conducted in the name of “charity” (though the funds raised go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, which validates high-end fashion as both historical phenomenon and contemporary art form — completing a virtuous circle of sartorial excess).
The organisers of the 2022 event could not have predicted that the night of the gala would coincide with the leaking of a draft opinion from the US Supreme Court that seems set to overturn the 1973 Roe versus Wade ruling guaranteeing a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion. Nonetheless, the coincidence served as a reminder that there are ethical implications to sustaining the opulent fantasy of the Met Gala by ignoring grim reality...
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