The Best and Worst of the 2021 Met Gala

Image+courtesy+of+Esquire

Image courtesy of Esquire

Anthony Millan, Staff Writer

Hello, everybody, and welcome to my one-time series of the best and worst outfits of the Met Gala. As you know, there was a Met Gala recently and the outfits this year were very interesting, to say the least. I have been judging most of these outfits and comparing them to each other for the better part of the last week, so, it only felt natural that I should clarify which were the best and worst outfits, objectively. Low and behold, here are the best and worst outfits of the 2021 Met Gala. These are the right opinions, so don’t question my authority.

Best: Billie Eilish

Image courtesy of Cosmopolitan

Starting off with one of my favorites, Billie Eilish KILLED it this year. The theme this year was “American Independence” and I believe she nailed the theme. Inspired by the Old Hollywood Aesthetic, Billie dressed up in a neutral ball gown, which, with her new blond look, got the old Hollywood style down perfectly.

Worst: AOC

Image courtesy of The Boston Globe

Now, one of my least favorites. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez was invited to the Met Gala, and chose to dress like this. I know everyone’s issue with the dress was the fact that she was invited to a $30,000 event, and is saying “Tax the rich”, but that’s not even my issue. I don’t care about the message, because the fashion is just horrible. It’s already a mediocre white dress that has nothing special, but the ugly red text? Makes it actually disgusting to look at. She does not look good, and she should know better. 

Best: Kendall Jenner

Image courtesy of People

I’m gonna be honest, I know it doesn’t follow the theme amazingly, but as a dress, this outfit is really cool. Arguably one of the best dressed at the Met Gala, Kendall chose to go with a sheer silver dress, and she killed the look. All of the silver on this dress is real, which gives it extra depth when it glimmers under light, which is very in-your-face and cool. Rich people showing off is one of the best aesthetics in fashion, so I’m a fan. An overall great dress.

Worst: Olivia Rodrigo

Image courtesy of Hollywood Life

Where do I even begin? This outfit is actually just bad. Where AOC at least had an okay white dress before she ruined it, Olivia just forgot how to dress. What is this? The fur on the outfit’s top is weird and out of place, and the outfit, in general, is not good at all. To make matters worse, she tries to match her jewelry but it has no connection to the outfit and just looks very disjointed. I love Olivia Rodrigo, but I’m mad.

Best: Kid Cudi

Image courtesy of Vogue

I’ll be the first to admit that, yes, the eyeliner is overwhelming (though I like it a lot), I know. But, this outfit is definitely one of the more creative ones at the Met Gala. It doesn’t have much to do with the theme, then again, almost nobody followed the theme, but this outfit is great. Kid Cudi wears a designer see-through skirt that matches his sweater, shoes, AND his hair. He matched his entire outfit from head to toe, therefore, I respect and kinda love it.

Worst: Natalia Bryant

Image courtesy of Daily Mail

Do I have to say much? Natalia… why? She’s wearing a dress from Connor Ives, a fashion brand, and like most of you, I had never heard of this so I decided to check out the collection… Big mistake. I understand why this dress is bad because the entire collection ranges from kind of weird to just not good. Somehow, Natalia managed to pick the worst of the bunch, though, wearing a bloated dress that looks like it’s filled with confetti. I’m mad.

Best: Ciara Wilson

Image courtesy of People

I know what you may be thinking, and before you write this off, let me explain why it’s great. This outfit is a bedazzled dress resembling her husband, Russel Wilson’s, jersey for the Seattle Seahawks. First of all, that’s awesome. Second of all, she’s carrying a bedazzled football in her hand, AND it works well with the theme. There is very little more American than football, and I love this dress.

Worst: Kim Kardashian

Image courtesy of Glamour

There comes a time where man has to admit that favorite ≠ best, and that is what I present to you today. I think this dress is great, and that Kim killed it. However, Kim did not kill it at the Met Gala. Dressed in a skin-tight all-black Balenciaga dress, Kim Kardashian entered the building looking like a shadow. The whole point of the Met Gala, in my eyes, is to show off your best outfit or how well you can follow a theme. Unfortunately, Kim did neither, leaving us with this.

Winner: Lil Nas X

Image courtesy of Page Six

My, oh my, where do I even begin? Lil Nas X, from the moment he walked in, was the undisputed winner of this year’s Met Gala. Entering the building with a golden, royalty-like dress, he immediately caught everyone’s attention. The dress is bright and loud and radiates wealth. Then, he threw us for a loop, when we found out he was wearing golden, knight-like armor underneath the dress. This was probably the best outfit of the night, glimmering from all the camera flashing, looking as majestic as golden armor on Lil Nas X can be. BUT THEN, he decided to throw us for a loop (x2) to then unveil a more lowkey golden skin-tight suit, which, in my opinion, was the perfect balance between out there / braggadocious and a more low key outfit. This is easily my winner.

Now that I’ve wrapped up the article, it’s easy to see that this year was a very mixed bag. The highs were monumental, while the lows were barely worth looking at, in my opinion, due to the vague theme. While it was obvious that many people did not even try to follow it, it was very hard to follow when it was “American Independence”. The people who made it work rocked it, but I don’t blame the rest of them for just wearing what they wanted. Ultimately, the wear at this event was around 6.5/10 being a little above average but not quite good. Thank you all, and I’ll see you on a different series because this is a one-time article.