The Met Gala Pre-Game

I was seriously debating writing this post as it’s now official that the Met Gala has taken over the ChiCityFashion.com home page. But you know what? This is my favorite event of the entire year, so I’m just going keep rolling with it. You already know who wore what (and my very honest opinions about each look) but how did those dresses end up on each girl? Do you know how long it took to make Rihanna’s dress? What designer didn’t see his own creation until the night of the Met Ball? I’m going to stop asking these questions and just answer them already!

Why I was especially impressed with the Met Ball red carpet this year is that the details in these looks were just insane (in a good way). You rarely get to see dresses like this outside of a photoshoot / magazine so to appreciate them in a [sort of] real life setting is just incredible. But don’t you ever want to know what exactly goes into prepping for something like this? Many websites will do a couple of features on celebrities getting ready for the big night (most focus on beauty but I’m all about the clothes), so I decided to read every single one, pick out the most interesting stories and share them WITH YOU. First up? One who landed my best dressed list — Karolina Kurkova.

Most red carpet events are a collaborative effort between the celebrity and their stylist, but this one is more about the celebrity and the designer they’re wearing. Most of the looks (at least from this year’s Met Ball) were custom, and these celebs can have as little or as much say in the design process as they want. Karolina was very hands on. She knew she wanted something much different from last year, as she was in a bold gown. Her and Tommy Hilfiger decided on an East-meets-West theme. She wanted something fashion forward but that people still understand as “everyone is a critic” these days (including this girl). They were deciding between fuchsia and red for the dress and opted for scarlet. I’m curious to see what this would have looked like in another color not just because I’m not a red fan but because pretty much everyone wore red this year.

My favorite part about her getting ready story is that Giuseppe Zanotti actually produced six pairs of shoes just for her to have enough options. Not sent over six pairs of shoes, actually made six pairs of shoes (and here’s three of them). Now that is what I call friends with benefits.

And lastly, I loved the fact that Tommy did not even see the final results of his creation until the night of the Met Ball. Can you imagine designing something for the biggest fashion event of the year and not even seeing the outcome until the big night? Crazy. But hey, it all worked out for the best [dressed]!

Although not on my best dressed list, I now have a new found appreciation for Cara Delevingne’s Met Gala look. It was actually her idea to do the faux tattoos to compliment her Stella McCartney jumpsuit, and they were created by celebrity tattoo artist Keith “Bang Bang” McCurdy (who has also done many of Cara’s real tats). The entire process took about 11 hours. That’s quite a long time for something that will wash right off. Do you think it was worth it, though?

Moving onto Dree Hemingway’s look, which was quite a “loose” interpretation of the theme. The China Girl on the back of her Coach vest was Dree’s doing and was actually a David Bowie reference, but still a bit of a nod to the theme.

Fun fact: Dree didn’t even bring a bag that night as her vest pockets were large enough to carry everything she needed. I appreciate that, as typically when celebrities don’t carry a bag on the red carpet, their assistant / publicist is toting all their needs of the night behind-the-scenes. Regardless of her bag situation, she still ended up on my best dressed list (as per usual).

I hate to be one of the millions of websites who talks about Kim Kardashian, BUT I thought it was pretty cool that the inspiration for her dress was actually a look Cher wore back in the day…and then Kim got to meet Cher and it all came full circle. Although the naked dress has been played, and I most definitely do not keep up with the Kardashians (only Kendall), she still looked pretty fantastic.

Topshop is fairly new on the scene when it comes to dressing celebrities for the Met Gala, but this year they took it to the next level and actually offered the dresses worn on the red carpet for sale on their site.

Unfortunately a few have sold out but you can still dress like Hailey or Josephine if you must!

Another good story is with Rita Ora and Tom Ford. I’m sure you’ve heard that Tom Ford only dresses one girl per red carpet (and if you haven’t heard that then you didn’t read this post). Rita only had one specification for her dress, and that’s the color — red. So Tom Ford actually recut a piece from his archives (when he was designing for Yves Saint Laurent) and re-made this dress in red for Rita. Unfortunately it wasn’t my favorite Rita Ora red carpet moment but can you imagine Tom Ford going through such great lengths for you? That’s when you know you’ve made it.

Now of course we’re all wondering about Rihanna. She probably made the biggest statement of the night (which says a lot because there were some pretty over-the-top headpieces) not only because of what she wore but because of who she wore. Had you heard of Guo Pei before Monday night? Me neither.

According to Fashionista, Rihanna is the one who found Guo Pei (a Chinese Couturier who actually has two pieces on display at the Met’s China: Through The Looking Glass exhibit). She apparently found the dress online, as it was part of a collection Guo Pei showed in 2010. The dress took 20 months to make and weighs 55 pounds. Seems like a lot of work for just one night but when Rihanna wears something, everyone talks about it. And now we all know who Guo Pei is!

Just makes you have a whole new appreciation for what these designers do, you know? Also some fun facts you can share with your friends, as we’re now all Met Gala pre-game experts.

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So what did you find the most interesting? Anything you already knew? Will you be buying any of those Topshop dresses? If you still need to get caught up, you can find all your Met Ball needs here.

Images via Style.com & Vogue