My Thoughts On This Year's Met Gala

Fashion’s biggest night came back better than ever. After being postponed due to COVID, the Met Gala came back right in time to celebrate fashion month, aka September.

What is the Met Gala?

The Met Gala, normally held on the first Monday in May, is the fashion industry’s biggest night, equivalent to the Oscars, the Grammys, or the Emmys. First held in 1948, it is an annual fundraising gala that celebrates the opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute’s annual fashion exhibit. The theme of the event corresponds with the theme of the exhibit and attendees are expected to dress to match. To get invited to this exclusive party one can either be a wealthy donor to the Museum in terms of time and money (note, it is not clear whether or not all wealthy donors receive an invitation), or be invited by a designer or Anna Wintour, editor in chief of Vogue. Guests at the Met Gala include the most influential names in fashion, entertainment, politics, business, sports, etc with the final guest list approved by Anna Wintour herself.

The theme of this year’s Met Gala, taking place on the second Monday in September, was “In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion”. The fashion, as always, was on point, proving that fashion is indeed art. It was truly a challenge to pick my top ten favorite looks but here they are (in no particular order).

Tessa Thompson in Iris van Herpen, Hailee Steinfeld in Iris van Herpen, Regina King in Michael Kors Collection, Lili Reinhart in Christian Siriano, Venus Williams in Prabul Gurung, Kendall Jenner in Givenchy, Jennifer Lopez in Ralph Lauren, Simone Biles in Area, Billie Eilish in Oscar de la Renta, Amanda Gorman in Vera Wang

Images: Vogue

When scrolling through every red carpet look on Vogue.com trying to create my top ten, I noticed a trend that I was not expecting. As far as I could tell, there were no visibly disabled guests on the red carpet. Now, that is not to say there were no visibly disabled celebrities invited. Perhaps there were and they just could not attend. I do not know for certain. What I do know is that disability was not seen on the iconic staircase.

I’ve said it many, many times and feel it cannot be said enough:

REPRESENTATION MATTERS.

Rewind to 2019’s Met Gala. The theme was “Camp: Notes On Fashion”. Everyone was dressed in their bright and colorful best, and fashion history was made when Sinéad Burke became the first little person to attend. Seeing her on the carpet, wearing custom, stunning Gucci, was MAJOR for me, a little person with a true passion for fashion. I had been waiting my whole life for that moment, to feel truly seen by an industry I love, to be able to say that my dream of attending the Met could come true because it’s happened before. I remember scrolling through the images from that year’s gala and thinking this was just the beginning. The fashion industry, I thought, was truly changing, becoming more inclusive towards people with disabilities.

The lack of diversity in regards to disability at the Met Gala reflects a much larger issue. In conversations surrounding diversity and representation in all facets of life, from politics to fashion to entertainment and everything in between, disability is still being left out.

Ignorance is not bliss.

The disabled population represents the largest minority in the world. Disability can affect anyone at any time. Disabled people need to be seen, to be heard, to be valued as people. If the disabled community was represented more in politics then perhaps the ADA would be more effective and enforced. If the disabled community was represented more in the media then perhaps more disabled stories would be told by disabled artists. If the disabled community was represented more in fashion then there would be accessible, adaptive clothing that was fashionable and functional.

When planning to write a post about the Met Gala, I thought it would focus solely on who and what people wore. I was planning to recap my favorite looks, commenting if it was at all possible for these one-of-a-kind pieces to be adapted, and celebrate the return of the gala. Yet, all I could focus on was the fact that I did not feel represented. I felt that, as a disabled woman, the fashion industry was saying those with a disability still do not fit in.

Again, I want to reiterate the fact that I do not know if there were disabled people invited that just could not attend. The official guest list is not made public. Moreover, I am aware that there were guests of the Met Gala who have an invisible disability. What I am focusing on right now in this piece is the lack of visible disability representation.

The conversation surrounding representation, diversity, and inclusion does not need to change completely. Rather, it simply needs to expand: to have the disabled community seen and heard. Progress has been made and we, as a society, are moving in the right direction, but Monday night made clear (to me, at least) that there is still a long way to go.

Disability is one piece of the multi-colored, multi-faceted fabric that makes America so beautiful and cannot and should not be left on the cutting room floor.