Memorable Fashion Statements From Met Gala 2021

On the second Monday in September, upper Fifth Avenue lit up with a blitz of flashbulbs not seen in over two years.

The Met Gala — like Broadway, like New York Fashion Week, like the U.S. Open — had returned, and with it the extreme pageantry that it inspires as guests and the designers who dress them vie to see who can create the most viral look according to theme.

The dress code this year was “American Independence.” (It was linked to the Costume Institute exhibition it celebrated, “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.”) What exactly that means is a question George and Martha Washington probably never had to contemplate (even Dolley Madison, the resident founding fashionista, likely didn’t ask), but the gala provided a variety of answers: some obvious, some more pointed, all plumbing the mythology of the country — historical, pop cultural, and just plain fantastical.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, for example, wore her politics on her sleeve — or rather, her back — in a white mermaid dress by Aurora James, founder of Brother Vellies and the 15 Percent Pledge, with the message “Tax the Rich,” scrawled in bright red letters, and a bag to match.

Given that the gala is a cornucopia of capitalist values, full of the rich and famous, that’s independent thinking for you.

Along with Representative Carolyn Maloney, in a suffragist purple, white and gold gown and cape by Antonios Couture calling for “Equal Rights for Women” and an ERA clutch, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez took the fashion statement idea to a whole new level.

There was a sense, before the gala, that after 2019’s “Camp” theme, which had Billy Porter on a litter borne by six shirtless men and Katy Perry as a chandelier, the costuming for the Costume Institute had gone about as far as it could go, and perhaps the time away had been an opportunity for a reset. Maybe attendees would just honor the occasion by wearing a nicely elegant gown by an American brand, rather than a look that probably flirted with national cliché. Some — like the event’s honorary chairman, Anna Wintour, in floral Oscar de la Renta — did. But as the evening progressed, it became increasingly clear they were in the minority. Besides, many couldn’t, even if they wanted to, because they were the guests of European brands and thus had to also model their clothes. Meaning they had to engage with the theme in more overt ways.

The West was worn. Leon Bridges sported a blue suede cowboy jacket from Bode, while Jennifer Lopez’s plunging beaded Ralph Lauren gown, faux fur bolero and leather hat had a whiff of the million-acre ranch, and Kim Petras’s Collina Strada came complete with … a horse head. So was the melting pot, thanks to the co-host Naomi Osaka, in a Louis Vuitton gown that referenced her Haitian and Japanese roots.

There was denim, obviously, as modeled by Ben Platt, David Byrne and Lupita Nyong’o in a molded Versace jean bustier.

Also a lot of red, white, and blue, sometimes all in one outfit, such as Megan Rapinoe’s Sergio Hudson pantsuit (in what turned into one of the trends of the night, her bag also had a message: “In Gay We Trust); sometimes in a…