Hello, Open Thread. Happy Met Gala weekend! Yup, the party of the year is almost here. M-day is actually Monday, but guests will have been flying in to New York all week for their last fittings; holing up at fashion favorite hotels the Mark and the Carlyle; getting facials, massages and whatever else they need to unveil their most glamorous selves. As with Oscar weekend, there will be a rash of pre-parties, including the U.T.A. bash at the Ritz and a Monse cocktail party at La Mercerie. Ahead of the big day, I asked some Styles colleagues for their favorite memories of Mets past and their predictions for this year's event. Here's what they said: Callie Holtermann, reporter: "As everyone tries to one-up one another, I'm always interested to see who wears something quieter. I appreciated Harry Styles's Gucci look in 2019, with trousers that went up to his sternum and a lacy black shirt sheer enough to reveal his tattoos. And, of course, the single pearl drop earring." Louis Lucero, editor: "I was thrilled by Chloe Bailey's look for the 2022 Met Gala. Her take on that year's dress code — 'gilded glamour' — relied on a brasher shade of gold than the precious metals favored by many of her fellow attendees, and the asymmetrical bodice and jutting hips of her Area dress set her apart from the more classic silhouettes. Sticking out while toeing the theme: That's doing the Met Gala right." Jessica Testa, fashion features reporter: "I predict we'll see some attendees incorporate real flora or vegetation into their looks. To get even more specific, I predict that Zendaya will wear a look embedded with grass (as one last tennis outfit!) by the Met Gala sponsor Loewe. In 2022, Loewe presented a men's collection that patched real grass into coats and sneakers, like surreal fashion chia pets." Gina Cherelus, reporter: "Last year, we witnessed a cockroach make its red carpet debut. I wonder if this year we'll get another insect. And if so, hopefully a butterfly?" Personally, Rihanna's pope look has always stood out for me as the apogee of camp (even though it was for the party celebrating "Heavenly Bodies"). And I agree with Jess that we are in for a lot of grand florals this year, despite the fact that the story the dress code celebrates, J.G. Ballard's "The Garden of Time," is actually about the death of the aristocracy. But that's a piece for another day. So drink your green juice! Here's all you need to know about what to expect. Get in the mood with last weekend's blowout, the White House Correspondent's Dinner, and then, for some counterprogramming, consider the "Cowboy Carter" effect on fashion and catch up with this anti-consumption film from Patagonia. And check in with us here on Monday evening, as we will be live-blogging the Met arrivals, starting at 6 p.m. Have a safe, great weekend.
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Your Style Questions, AnsweredEvery week on Open Thread, Vanessa will answer a reader's fashion-related question, which you can send to her anytime via email or Twitter. Questions are edited and condensed.
Is there a limit on the length of an untucked shirt? I have many very good older shirts that were not made to wear untucked. Is it OK to wear them hanging out anyway? — Robert, Mandeville, La.Ah, the joy of an untucked shirt! Who wants the uncomfortable constriction of all that material trapped around your waist? Untucking has been a signifier of casual cool since tucking was invented. (When was that? Back in the mists of time when the bottom part of shirts also served as men's underwear.) These days, between Casual Friday, the erosion of the office dress code, pandemic lockdowns and comfort dressing, untucking has become ever more popular. Yet it is not quite so simple as just pulling your shirt out of your pants (or skirt). To do untucking effectively, you have to take into consideration the impressions untucked shirts convey and the actual shape of the shirt. Especially those odd appendages known as shirttails. Shirttails, those tonsil-like bits that hang down at the bottom of a button-up shirt, were meant to be tucked in, given their original function as the veil between one's outerwear and one's private bits. In other words, they were not invented to be seen. That means bodily proportion is not taken into consideration when a designer or tailor considers the shirttail. And therein lies the rub, because proportion is the key to dress. It is also why even after the shirts-as-underwear exigency was no longer relevant, tucking continued. Tucking in your shirt gives you a waist; it defines the separation between torso and legs. It conveys an impression of control and organization. Untucking changes that proportion and, in doing so, changes the body shape and the ethos. Hence the reason tucking has become a symbol of class, profession and the establishment — or the rebellion against and rejection of all of the above. In recent years, however, numerous brands have begun to cater to those who want to have their cake and wear it, too. Which is to say: Go untucked, but with a neater effect. The point is you don't want your shirt to make your legs look like foreshortened tree trunks by cutting off the line around the top of the thighs. (This is true for any gender.) And you don't want tons of material billowing around your body, turning you into a giant blob. That makes you more like mad King George running through the palace halls in a nightshirt than, say, Pierce Brosnan on vacation. According to David Farber, T's men's style director, "Through the years as I went on appointments where shirts meant to be worn untucked were being shown, the advice was generally use the middle of your zipper and the middle of your butt as a guideline to where the shirt should fall, because it's the most flattering angle from front and back." You can tell when a shirt has been created with untucking in mind because the shirttails are generally shorter and neatly hemmed; more horizontal or gently curved than tonsil-shaped. There's an entire brand that caters to the desire to wear untucked shirts called, yes, UNTUCKit. Other options include Proper Cloth and Twillory. If you already have a closet full of nicely made shirts that you would like to wear untucked, the easiest solution may be to take them to a tailor to get the shirttails adjusted. Even that is not without complications, though. As Derek Guy, the men's wear critic who blogs at @dieworkwear, pointed out, "Sometimes, the button placement is such that you can't shorten the garment without the bottommost buttonhole being weirdly close to the hem." Mr. Guy said that one solution was to "fold your older shirts where you think you may want them hemmed. Press a hard crease into the fold using an iron, then use pins to keep the excess fabric in place. Now, look at yourself in the mirror and see if you like the new length." Or perhaps, more pertinently, the new you.
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Friday, May 3, 2024
Open Thread: Met Gala, Harry Styles, Gucci, Rihanna, Loewe, Zendaya
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