The Met-a Gala
Oh what a starry night intertwining glamour…and the Hunger Games?
No Rihanna, No Blake Lively, no problem. Fashion’s biggest night a.k.a. celebrity prom a.k.a The Met Gala still delivered some high fashion moments amidst questionable interpretations (sorry Lizzo, truth hurts).
Now, I’m not a fashionista by any stretch (though I do love me some Project Runway); I’m an intuitive astrologer who finds pop culture fascinating mirrors for collective consciousness - especially when it comes to defining moments like the Met Gala.
For starters, the Gala is typically held on the first Monday of May - smack dab in the middle of Taurus season; Taurus is a Zodiac sign ruled by the planet Venus, which rules love, style, fashion and beauty. The idea of the Goddess Venus herself emerging through the Met Gala as a Taurus Sun - how’s that for some cool synchronicity?
This year attendees were encouraged to dress up according to the “Garden of Time” dress code, complimenting its “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” exhibition - very Taurean themes. Sleep and nature are major themes associated with the sign of the Bull - both concerned with comfort and serenity. However, also in true Taurus fashion, the seemingly simplistic thematic cohesion ultimately masked deeper complexity that lurked beneath the pretty Getty Images surface.
While attendees and the media glamorized some breathtaking red carpet moments - paging men to carry me up the stairs a la Tyla - the Met Gala was, in essence, a Trojan Horse for a John Galliano retrospective following his fall from grace. For those in need of a refresher - Galliano was fired as creative director of Dior following his drunken anti-Semitic tirades back in 2011.
It’s, of course, an interesting time to be thinking about anti-Semitism given the current state of world affairs; the Met Gala’s dress code therefore feels rather on the nose (if not potentially confusing for some). For clarity's sake, the “Garden of Time” references J.G. Ballard’s 1962 short story about the impending fall of the aristocracy as an angry mob encroaches upon its peaceful existence; fingerprints of elite society salvaging their peaceful bubble and privilege as the world around them burns.
On the one hand, we had notable Galliano representation on the Met Gala carpet, including co-chairs Zendaya and Bad Bunny along with cardigan-wearing Kim Kardashian - all sporting custom couture Maison Margiela by John Galliano in celebration of a designer who was effectively “cancelled” for his anti-Semitic views. On the other hand, we had protestors at the gates of the Met Gala being arrested as they attempted to call for a ceasefire, running into battles with public perception around anti-Semitism and their intent.
Is life imitating art? Or is art imitating life?
From a cosmic perspective, Pluto, the planet of transformation and empowerment, recently moved into Aquarius - the Zodiac sign associated with the collective, rebellion, and the future. It’s worth noting that uprisings and revolutions were prominent features of Pluto’s last turn in Aquarius, including Bastille Day and the French Revolution. The image of Marie Antoinette in her Versailles garden palace feels rather striking amidst the times - a direct parallel to the Met Gala itself and its Garden of Time / Sleeping Beauty mashup.
I wonder about the future of the Met Gala amidst this massive inflection point for the collective - a dying gasp of institutional pageantry as history so often repeats itself (the monarchy is certainly on edge). Perhaps Anna and her staff were tongue-in-cheek by picking an incredibly self-aware theme (too on the nose for my taste, though I've never been a Hunger Games type of girl). Or perhaps it reflected a subconscious collective longing to return to “normal” - how things were before the angry mob disturbed the "peace".
Maybe it was a good thing that Rihanna and Blake Lively didn’t show after all.
Tasha is a former Wall Street cog turned spiritual astrologer and pop culture aficionado. When she's not busy analyzing her clients' natal charts, you can find her decompressing to the soothing loop of Bravo Housewives fighting in the background. She's also the co-host of the Bravo weekly recap podcast, Popposites Attract. Follow her on Instagram for more of her astrologically-inclined pop culture hot takes and deep dives.