Using my extensive knowledge of art history and museums’ online collections, I live-matched runway couture worn during award shows and celebrity-filled galas with famous artwork. As I virtually dashed through the galleries via their website, I crossed geographies and jump through time and space. The matches were posted as the nights progressed on my Twitter account using the hashtags #MetGalaMatch and #AwardShowsSoMuseum.
What started as my fun project became a prime example of the value of open collections and searchable museum archives. Some artworks that I matched had not been on display for decades and were only found through searchable and filterable collections websites. This project was my catalyst for advocating for open collections.
Met Gala Match
Met Gala Match started in 2016, while watching E!RedCarpet’s Met Gala Manus x Machina special when I realized that one of the celebrity’s gowns appeared to include a pair of silver seashells from the museum’s collection. This amusing comparison became the first of many that evening, soon turning into an annual tradition matching couture and artwork exclusively from the Met.
#AwardShowsSoMuseum
My couture-artwork live-matching happened during major award show red carpets, such as the Golden Globes, Oscars, and Tonys. I looked at colors and patterns in the fabrics, gestalt of the entire outfit, and the angle of necklines and hems and match them to art in a variety of media and styles.
This project has gained popularity online with art critics and curators. In 2017, The Sun featured my MetGala tweet about Tracee Ellis Ross in their article FROCKY HORROR Met Gala 2017: From Katy Perry’s Thinly-Veiled Catastrophe To Madonna’s Camo Combo These Are The Worst Looks On This Year’s Red Carpet and in 2021, FootwearNews featured my Grammy tweet about Phoebe Bridgers in their article Worst-Dressed at the 2021 Grammy Awards, According to You. Some of the celebrities even shared the posts.
Amusingly, a handful of museums began to emulate this type of social media post, sharing items in their collections and couture outfits the following morning. While I firmly believe that my 2016 Met Gala Match was the first of this trend, I’ll say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Blaire Moskowitz 