I can’t recall when the Met Gala crept into my consciousness, but it couldn’t have been more than a few years ago. Growing up in a suburb of Bombay, I don’t remember any newspaper or magazine mentioning this important event during my youth, so I grew up completely oblivious to its presence. I sometimes feel as if I missed out on all that coverage and thousands of photographs that could have changed how I see fashion as well as the world. I could have grown up to be a glamorous human being and failed because none of the people I hung around with had heard about the Gala.
Back then, the only events from America that attracted some attention from journalists (if at all) were the Oscars and the Grammys. They were both covered perfunctorily on The World This Week after all the wars, elections, and assorted tragedies had been discussed. I must thank social media for how this has changed, and why this evening dedicated to fashion now occupies so much media space. Everything worn by those accomplished men and women is dissected in much detail, and the world seems like a better, smarter place for it, so I continue to be grateful.
I was surprised to find out that the Gala is almost as old as post-British, Independent India. Apparently, the first one took place in 1948 and featured nothing more than dinner. It is only now, after all these decades, that we are waking up to how influential it really is. More celebrities from Bombay are starting to walk down its red carpet each year, which either means India is becoming an important market for some American brand or product, or that the organisers need a new audience because their traditional one is no longer interested. I doubt the latter is possible though, given how America has always loved a party.
The most impressive thing about the Gala is how it celebrates merit. One can’t just waltz in and hope for an invitation; one has to be genuinely talented or have very rich relatives to purchase a ticket. It’s why the people representing India this year made me so proud, because I couldn’t think of more deserving representatives of a civilisation as intelligent and ancient as ours. There were a couple of filmmakers, one or two actresses I didn’t recognise, and even the daughter of an industrialist, and their presence reassured me that India’s image would be burnished in front of the American paparazzi. It really felt as if India was sending her best, which never happens when one of our politicians visits the West.
I was also pleased to see that a lot of space was given to these celebrity influencers, not by American journalists, but by Indian feature writers back home. It felt as if editors across the country had finally examined their priorities and figured out what their readers really wanted. It explains why more people are reading newspapers than ever before.
The only thing that confused me was the motive behind the Gala. Apparently, it is held for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. I couldn’t connect the presence of Indian celebrities with the raising of funds for a museum in New York City. This confusion also stemmed from my experiences of museums in Bombay, none of which meet world-class standards, and all of which could use a bit of fundraising themselves.
Then again, after thinking about it for a while, I realised that I had been looking at this all wrong. Perhaps this is what our ministers refer to as study trips — fact-finding missions to learn about how some countries do things a little better than Indians do. If this is true, I expect a better version of the Met Gala to debut in Bombay within a year or two. I foresee the world’s media turning away from Manhattan and towards Bandra, because that’s where ‘fashion’s biggest night’ will eventually be held.
The nicest thing about the Met Gala is how it reminds us that haute couture is still worthy of more attention than most other things. What Indian celebrities do on that evening is remind the world that they come from a land that has intelligence and wisdom but also access to the finest things money can buy in our times, from clothing and power to Ozempic and plastic surgery.
By standing there in outfits none of them would wear here, they inform the world that India has arrived.
When he isn’t ranting about all things Mumbai, Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet. He can be contacted at www.lindsaypereira.com
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The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper.