By: Nora Scarbro

The Met Gala is a fundraising event for the Metropolitan Museum Of Art in New York City, but it’s more importantly known as the fashion event of the year. 

The board of directors for the Met Gala reveals the next year’s theme about a month after the event takes place, each one leaving room for unique and complex ideas. Some of them are rooted in history like last year’s theme “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” which was inspired by the book “Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity” by Monic Miller. Others derive from current elements of the fashion industry, like the 2019 theme “Camp.” 

This year, the board selected the theme “Costume Art.” This theme was created to play into the concept of bodies and fashion as true physical works of art, encouraging designers to explore what art in the context of fashion means to them. USA today shares the board’s thoughts on their chosen theme: “To express their own relationship to fashion as an embodied art form and celebrate the countless depictions of the dressed body throughout art history.” 

This choice leaves a lot up to the interpretation of the designer. Bodies have been inspiring art since its creation, so there is really no definitive way to predict this year’s looks, since there is no one way to interpret art. “You can have a lot of different perspectives and personalities shown,” Bellbrook senior and fashion enthusiast Gabe Woods said. 

The Met itself is engaging in new kinds of body recognition to further push the idea that inspired the gala. One way they are doing that is by using mannequins of diverse body types to display pieces. The showcase features pregnant bodies, plus size bodies, and bodies with physical disabilities. 

This prompt itself pushes back on a lack of body recognition in the fashion industry, something that has been infiltrating the past decade of fashion, while also reminding the industry that the human body was, and still is, the most significant inspiration for art.