For thus a few years, André Leon Talley had such a robust presence on the Met Gala. There have been all of the instances he labored the occasion, after which, in direction of the tip of his time at Vogue, the years he hosted the journal’s livestream of the pink carpet, providing his insightful, incisive commentary dwell from his perch on the high of the museum’s steps. Although that relationship ended sourly, as he recounted in his 2020 memoir, Talley unequivocally left his mark on the occasion. For designer Victor Glemaud, the occasion’s return to the primary Monday in Might was a chance to pay homage to the late editor, who handed away in January.
“Once you consider the theme and also you consider ‘gilded glamour’ and also you consider André, it is all one and the identical,” he says.
The designer attended the 2022 Met Gala as a visitor of H&M. The chance got here up “fairly organically,” Glemaud says: He is labored with the Swedish style firm on the Met Gala prior to now, designing seems for its company and escorting them up the pink carpet. When H&M reached out, he floated the thought of a tribute to Talley, to which “they instantly mentioned sure.”
Talley was synonymous with elegant, voluminous capes, so Glemaud and H&M created a silk taffeta opera coat for the pink carpet “that immediately says ‘André,'” worn over a white tuxedo. “The colours, the richness of it, the refinement, the ending, the excellence that André stood for — it is all on this look,” Glemaud says.
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Past referencing Talley’s signature cape, the designer nodded to different features of the late editor’s model: “André was all about basic menswear and exquisite English tailoring, and I feel we have now loads of these components, from the lapel to the development of the very basic tuxedo. It is very conventional. We have made it in these shades of ivory so it feels extra modern, however the minimize and the whole lot about it is vitally conventional, which was very André — right down to the silk socks and the idler.”
“That is the primary time I’ve actually been invited to the Met Gala — I’ve escorted individuals earlier than — so I am thrilled that we might do it this fashion, paying tribute to an incredible one that’s legacy is phenomenal,” Glemaud says. “I am actually, actually blissful. I hope [people] acknowledge that the legacy of André and the Met is greater than this second, and that we proceed to have a good time him.”
Picture: Courtesy of H&M
Like numerous others who have been capable of spend time with Talley within the hallowed halls of the Met, Glemaud cherishes these recollections, which he says communicate to the essence of who the business legend was. One instance: “A few years in the past, again once they invited younger style individuals to the after celebration on the Temple of Dendur, when Venus and Serena Williams began attending style issues, we arrived and I went to say hey to André,” he says. “And he goes, ‘Kiss Venus first!’ That is very a lot a vivid reminiscence of the Met Gala and André — even in his aspect, it was nonetheless about everybody else apart from him.”
As a designer dwelling and dealing in New York, Glemaud acknowledges the importance of the exhibit, which goals to have a good time and uplift American style expertise. “Now we have to maintain exhibiting that there is expertise, there’s at all times been expertise — feminine designers from again within the day who’re on this exhibition, from Claire McCardell to Donna Karan to new younger designers that also needs to be showcased to a broader viewers who goes to the museum and stumbles upon this exhibition or involves the museum for this exhibition,” he says. “For people who find themselves coming tonight internationally, it is actually vital to see the combo: You have got H&M and different world manufacturers celebrating American design. I feel it is unbelievable.”
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