It was one the most celebrated looks from the Met Gala 2023: Lil Nas X painted silver in nothing but a thong, platforms, over 200,000 Swarovski crystals and encrusted whiskers; an overtly sexy homage to the late Karl Lagerfeld’s cat Choupette. The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.
Had this been Sam Smith, with two glittery cheeks on full display and separated only by a slither of a G-string, I expect the reaction would have been very different.
The non-binary singer has faced torrents of abuse for their recent array sartorial risks, including nipple tassles, corsets, fishnets and balloon-suits. US Senator Ted Cruz has called them “evil”, Noel Gallagher slammed them as a “f***ing idiot,” and Piers Morgan launched into a rant about Smith’s latest ‘Gloria’ tour costumes on his on his TalkTV show last month, slamming them as “narcissistic self-indulgent deliberately shocking stuff… He looks terrible!”
Both singers are figureheads the LGBTQIA+ community, so while much criticism levelled at Smith might be pinned to homophobia, the issue of prejudice against different body shapes cannot be ignored.
Ironically, it comes as concerns have been raised against the former Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld, to whom this year’s Met Gala has been dedicated. The late designer had been judgmental of larger bodies and people who criticised the body positivity movement in the past, saying in a 2009 interview: "these are fat mummies sitting with their bags of crisps in front of the television, saying that thin models are ugly.” The announcement of the theme last year gave way to celebrities including Jamella Jamil to make statements against the Gala. “This man... was indeed, supremely talented, but used his platform in such a distinctly hateful way, mostly towards women,” she wrote.
It raises questions around how much has really changed in the last decade, when Lagerfeld felt embolded to make such statements. Conversations around body image might have become more vocal, but statistics from the last fashion month were sobering: under one per cent of models that took to the catwalk for the AW23 collection were plus size. Clearly, more reform remains overdue.
Lil Nas X’s bold expression of queerness should rightly be championed, but it is not a privilege that should be gatekept for frequenters of the gym.
