One to watch: The First Monday in May

The first Monday in May sets the stage for the annual Met Gala, and now there’s a film documentary about it. 

Words Carolyn Enting

 

The Met Gala is an extravagant show of glamour that provides designers and their dream dresses, the ultimate outing. It’s a haute couture dream and star-studded fundraiser that brings together fashion and art, providing a robust platform to debate the perennial question as to whether fashion can ever be art?

US Vogue editor Anna Wintour puts it succinctly like this: “I think fashion should be recognised when it touches people and moves people. I mean what more can you ask from art?” Can’t argue with that.

 

Karl Lagerfeld calls it “applied art”. Whatever your opinion, documentary film The First Monday in May is sure to captivate, interest and inspire admirers of fashion and art.

The film follows the creation of ‘China: Through the Looking Glass’, the most attended fashion exhibition in history of The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the 2015 Met Gala (the latter a fundraiser that celebrates the opening of the museum). It follows Wintour (Museum trustee and Costume Institute Benefit co-chair) and exhibition curator Andrew Bolton for eight months as they prepare for the evening, and the event.

Prepare to swoon over the gowns, and exhibits, and enjoy the debate and invitation to observe the spectacle.

The First Monday in May is available on DVD now.