Behind the scenes at the New York Met’s sumptuous 2015 Costume Institute show ‘China: Through the Looking Glass’ and its Anna Wintour-spearheaded opening ball, the celebrity packed Met Gala.
Catnip for fashionistas… Andrew Rossi's dishy documentary goes behind the scenes of the lavish and star-filled annual Met Ball (otherwise known as the ‘Super Bowl of fashion events’).
The First Monday in May 2016
Needing a good fix of Anna Wintour ever since The September Issue? Help is at hand, thanks to this behind-the-scenes documentary which covers her oversight of the Oriental-themed 2015 Met Gala, a celebrity extravaganza that raised $12,000,000 for (and at) New York’s Metropolitan Museum and launched the Met Costume Institute’s blockbuster exhibition, ‘China: Through the Looking Glass’. Wintour shares the film with Andrew Bolton, the engaging, confessedly star struck Brit who curated the exhibition with filmmaker Wong Kar-wai as guest creative director.
With Costume admitted to the Museum’s pantheon of cultural history, some ask how much space can there be at the Met for the commercialism and celebrity culture that accompany it? The more the better, we discover, at least on the first Monday of May each year. Produced in part by Condé Nast, First Monday touches lightly on the cultural and political quandaries negotiated by the curators of a show that celebrates Orientalism in Western fashion. What filmmaker Andrew Rossi does best is observe the meticulous organisation of so much sheer opulence, revel in the flamboyance of one percenters at play – and harken closely as the imperious Ms Wintour gets it all so very right.
“The whole film is a delicious excuse to gawk – at the magnificent costumes, at the diplomatic dance of museum personnel and party planners, and at the sumptuous squish of so many egos sharing space.” — Kimberley Jones, Austin Chronicle