The Garden of time: A met Galla’s take on culture and time
A palatial villa maintains the vestiges of cultured society while a distant “immense rabble” threatens to dismantle it all. More than a dystopian plot, the story of “The Garden of Time” by James Ballard has now become the theme for the latest Met gala, which invites us to roam around a magical garden while reflecting on the fragility of objects with time.
But the short story by the British satirist keeps a close resemblance with the history of the Met Gala. While in Ballard’s tale, Count Axel and the nameless Countess preserve rare books, fine art, classical music, and a sumptuous garden, the lavish annual Met ball, attempts to protect the future and past of fashion through the funds of fashion and society elite.
That place, where “the wind seemed brighter, and the sun warmer” was a place far from the struggles of common humanity, where the privileged got to care about a cultured, beautiful future, while an advancing army promised to change it all. While the story talked about the passing of time, the descriptive ability of Ballard’s work gave us some clues about what we could see at the MET gala.
“The flowers in Axel’s hand had shrunk to the size of a glass thimble, the petals contracting around the vanishing core”. This line from the story gives an insight into a garden of translucent glass flowers that get affected by the cruelty of time. Elle Fanning understood the assignment and wore a Balmain crystalline gown that fitted the ethereality of her beauty. But it must not be forgotten that the event is also a huge promotional opportunity for brands, which is why Karlie Kloss in her Schwarovsky crystal flower dress is living proof of a partnership that adjusts to the theme while ensuring visibility, even if many Twitter users ensured it lacked theatricality.
Zendaya, however, was praised for the dramatic appeal of her outfit and acting, which took us back to the runway shows of John Galliano in the 90s where models would adopt the personality of their characters. The striking ocean-blue gown included a headpiece that set the scene for her second look; a never-worn Galliano for Givenchy 1996 black sumptuous dress adorned with a big flower bucket hat designed by Philip Tracey for Alexander McQueen back in 2006. For that Spring/Summer collection, “The Princess and the Pea” Galliano took inspiration from the entire history of fashion. The romantic historicism of this second outfit turned heads among the fashion-savvy, in what I like to believe was a direct
reference to the beautiful countess from Ballard’s story, which would be in line with the elaborate stories that would serve as inspiration for John’s fashion shows.
The darkness of this outfit kept commonalities with some of the other outfits, which seemed to have taken the passing of time as something lugubrious, as was the case of Emma Chamberlain on Jean Paul Gaultier or Gwendoline Christie and Bad Bunny wore Margiela by Galliano who became some of the favorites of the night, expanding the reign of the British designer as one of the favorites of the season. Another nod to a British designer that conquered fashion, was made by Lana del Rey, who commanded the Met steps with a custom Alexander McQueen by Seán McGirr, that referenced an archival design from the house’s fall 2006 collection.
This year’s Met gala exhibition also told the story of those objects that time has made too delicate to ever be worn again, those “sleeping beauties” that will now only be admired on museum display cases; like the dresses by Frederick Worth that are part of the newly presented exposition under the topic “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion”, that is perhaps the reason that time took a main role on Tyla’s look by Balmain for her inaugural look, which represented time in a literal manner with sculptural sand shaping her body and an hourglass bag as accessory.
Time will inevitably affect garments and their appearance, although the history of these will always prevail on the retina of those who have been lucky enough to present the effects of those clothes that have been able to change the course of fashion history. And this conservatorship function that the Met carries, is what makes the ball so important for the industry, independently of the show that the attendees may provide.
Words: @edugilhurta