This year’s Met Gala saw the likes of flaunting that took nine people to carry. We also witnessed don and sequin suit and wearing a dress that made her . One of the official livestream hosts was Gwendoline Christie, whose haircut seemed to simulate Cruella de Vil after electrocution.
The utter flamboyancy of this annual May pop fashion event has the dual effect of dazzling onlookers and overshadowing its long and complex history. For one, this always-anticipated Manhattan affair has an impact beyond showcasing wild looks and entertaining the masses: it is a philanthropic event for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute. This institute plays a vital role in fashion history and archiving—it has preserved more than 33,000 pieces of dress and accessories from the 1400s to the present day.
Ok, so the Met Gala is an entertaining fundraiser for a fashion museum, but how did all of this come about in the first place? It turns out there are a handful of behind-the-scenes actors who helped make the spectacle we see today a reality. It might sound strange at first, but the Met Gala might not exist today if it wasn’t for the achievements of a Victorian-era German-Jewish immigrant to New York. When Leonard Lewisohn, president of the United Metals Selling Company in the late 19th century, died in 1902, he had amassed an estate worth nearly half a billion dollars in today’s money.
His daughter Irene was just 15 years old at the time of his passing, but she would directly.
