Sarah Jessica Parker has opened up about what the Met Gala means to her and how “labour intensive” it should be to create an outfit that coincides with the annual event’s theme.
The 57-year-old actor reflected on her most memorable costumes at 10 different Met Galas, which takes place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, during a recent interview withVogue.
As she spoke about the Halston gown that she wore in 2010, she expressed how important the theme of the Met Gala is to her every time that she attends. In fact, according to Parker, she finds it a little strange if guests don’t “spend seven to ten months” working on their costumes in order to match with the theme.
“All I ever think about is the theme and influence,” she said. “Whenever I go to the Met, I don’t understand how everyone else doesn’t spend seven to ten months working on it. Like how do you not arrive exhausted by the details of getting it right?”
The And Just Like That star applauded the people who’ve put the Met Gala, its theme together, and “extraordinary exhibit”. With that in mind, she believes that creating a look for the event is should be “an assignment” that is quite “labour-intensive”.
“All these people came together and worked really hard to put together an extraordinary exhibit and it is all academic and historical and then it’s fashion,” she explained. “It is an assignment and it should be labour-intensive. And it should be challenging.”
Parker acknowledged that while it would be simpler to just pick out “a beautiful dress” to wear, that is not part of “the assignment”.
“It would be so easy to find a beautiful dress to wear that night,” she explained. “Like that would be a great relief and like going on vacation. But that is not the assignment, the assignment is the theme.”
However, she noted that not all the Met Gala’s themes are easy to understand. In fact, the Sex and the City star recalled how she’s spent “days” trying to figuring how to “interpret” it.
“Sometimes the theme eludes you,” she added. “I have had conversations…like, ‘What does this theme mean?’ We’ve had some very abstract themes where you’re like, ‘How do you interpret that?’ Like singing a song. Either you’re an interpreter or you’re not.”
The 2022 Met Gala will be taking place on 2 May, resuming its pre-pandemic schedule this year, as last year’s event was pushed to September 2021 and the 2020 was cancelled due Covid-19.
This year’s theme is “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” a part-two of an exhibit from the Costume Institute at the museum. The first part of the exhibit, “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” was the theme of the 2021 Met Gala.
The upcoming event will be centred on the evolution of American fashion and will be hosted by Regina King, Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
