the ball

Was Lauren Santo Domingo the Best Dressed at the Met Gala Last Night?

Cathy Horyn writes that the looks on the Met Gala’s red carpet “had a scripted feel.” Ballgowns at a ball — how … inventive. And you know Cathy finds something severe when she uncharacteristically tacks “man” onto the end of a sentence, as in: “So many trains, man.” But man, she is so right. “[T]he 2010 script called for elegant dresses and lots of diamond jewelry from the usual willing lenders,” she continues. The looks didn’t seem that unusual for a red carpet, though the smattering of short dresses stood out this time. Had Lady Gaga made the carpet in that Prada tux, she might have been the most unusually dressed, yet also one of the most simplistic. But though critics so often bemoan beige on the red carpet, Horyn gives high marks to Vogue editor Lauren Santo Domingo.

I thought Lauren Santo Domingo looked terrific in a sparkly, long-sleeved beige dress by Proenza Schouler. It suited her height and coloring and it’s nice to see long sleeves.


Horyn loves her a fancy sleeve (she couldn’t get over Ivanka Trump’s Vera Wang wedding sleeves). Japanese Vogue’s fashion director, Anna Dello Russo, also loved Santo Domingo. “[M]y fav at met ball?lauren santo domingo in proenza schouler,” she tweeted this morning. Santo Domingo told Horyn she was channeling “Tom Ford.” Should she also be commended for sourcing inspiration from an American designer at an event honoring the American woman? Not necessarily, according to Anna Wintour, who wore Chanel by Karl Lagerfeld, which is all kinds of foreign. “Well, if you see the exhibition, they’re all wearing French clothes,” Anna explained. As if she’d be a traitor at her own ball.

Elegance Is the Norm at Costume Institute Gala [NYT]
Night of the Long Red Carpet [On the Runway/NYT]

Was Lauren Santo Domingo the Best Dressed at the Met Gala Last Night?