The Met Gala theme this year was confusing, to say the least. Anna Wintour even apologized for the year’s baffling dress code, “Garden of Time.”
“When we came up with the title ‘Sleeping Beauties,’ it’s wonderful and poetic and romantic, but actually, it could be many, many things,” she said, telling Today’s Jenna Bush Hager that she expected to see a lot of flowers on the red carpet. “I fear that we’ve unleashed a lot of confusion out there,” she said. But several celebrities decided to try something different, saying no to florals for spring — groundbreaking — and thinking, instead, What about birds?
Rebecca Ferguson was the first to claim the trend, opening her Thom Browne cape to reveal a soft blue lining printed with crows early in the evening. Then Zendaya carried a metallic blue bird in the crook of her neck. Elle Fanning’s sheer draped Balmain gown appeared to be held up by two birdies over both of her shoulders. Ariana Grande affixed some sci-fi wings to her cheekbones. And Adrien Brody, in custom Maison Margiela, topped his jacket with a voluminous abstract bird’s wing. Meanwhile, Huma Abedin and Alexandra Daddario were nearly on the same page, opting for hummingbird prints and embellishments.
Perhaps Wintour tipped off designers that birds would play a role in the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition, in which curator Andrew Bolton dedicated several galleries to birds and nightingales, where displays included two Alexander McQueen pieces from 1995 and 1996 printed with feathers and swallows.
