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From beyond the museum walls Monday, works of art will move and take shape as the glitterati of guests from Beyonc\u00e9, Nicole Kidman to Venus Williams will fashionably ascend the Metropolitan Museum of Art\u2019s steps and exhibit their creative interpretations of this year\u2019s dress code, \u201cFashion is art.\u201d<\/p>\n
The question of whether fashion is art has long been topic of conversation for fashion insiders, and this first Monday in May the dress code is leaving nothing up for debate.<\/p>\n
The dress code for the starry fundraising event calls for guests to \u201cexpress their relationship to fashion as an embodied art form.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fashion has long drawn inspiration from works of art, leaving guests with no shortage of artistic references to show off.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
But will guests pull from the fashion archives on Monday or wear custom artistic creations from fashion houses?<\/p>\n
Archival fashion looks have become a red carpet phenomenon with fashion savvy stars wanting to get their hands on some of the rarer pieces of fashion history.<\/p>\n
Designer Elsa Schiaparelli famously collaborated in 1937 with Spanish artist Salvador Dal\u00ed to design a white silk dress with a lobster printed on the front. Years later, Yves Saint Laurent would design shift dresses filled with Piet
Mondrian\u2019s blocks of color in 1965, and more recently, Marc Jacobs collaborated with artist Takashi Murakami in 2002 to add his designs to Louis Vuitton.<\/p>\n
Monday\u2019s carpet is also chance for celebrities to deliver their own performance art.<\/p>\n
The late designer Alexander McQueen was heavily regarded by fashion insiders as an artist. He closed his Spring 1999 show with a piece of performance art when machines sprayed Shalom Harlow\u2019s white dress with black and yellow spray paint as she posed on a rotating turntable.<\/p>\n
Past Gala dress codes have honored designers and pulled from literature. Last year, the art of tailoring was center stage with the dress code \u201cTailored for you.\u201d The high-profile event raises money for the museum\u2019s Costume Institute, and each year the dress code for the gala takes cues from the Costume Institute\u2019s spring exhibition.<\/p>\n
On display this Spring, the \u201cCostume Art\u201d exhibit will \u201cexamine the centrality of the dressed body.\u201d<\/p>\n
The relationship between fashion and art has not always been embraced. Art historian and author Nancy Hall-Duncan writes in her book, \u201cArt X Fashion: Fashion Inspired by Art\u201d that in the 19th century, art was perceived as classical and fashion was frivolous.<\/p>\n
When Yves Saint Laurent held the Met\u2019s first fashion exhibit in 1983, the exhibit was met with heavy criticism. Since then, the museum has held countless fashion exhibits throughout the years with museums around the world following suit. The Louvre put on its first fashion exhibition \u201cLouvre couture\u201d last year.<\/p>\n
The dress code set by Wintour and the Met\u2019s Costume Institute curator, Andrew Bolton, is the final seal of approval that fashion is art, Hall-Duncan told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsn\u2019t that a giant step?\u201d she said. \u201cIt will indeed change perceptions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Didn\u2019t snag one of the pricey tickets or a spot on the ultra-exclusive guestlist?<\/p>\n
The red carpet spectacle is available for all to watch online with the Vogue livestream. Ashley Graham, La La Anthony and Cara Delevingne will be hosting the livestream starting at 6 p.m. with Emma Chamberlain interviewing guests throughout the night.<\/p>\n
The Associated Press will have a livestream of celebrities leaving a pair of New York hotels on their way to the gala beginning at 4:30 p.m. on APNews.com and YouTube. It\u2019s the first chance to see what attendees will be wearing before they hit the gala\u2019s carpet.<\/p>\n