Fashion gala
The Met Gala customarily took place on the first Monday of May this year. The exhibition at the Met’s Costume Institute was Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty, which celebrated the life and work of the fashion designer who had designed for many iconic brands, including Balmain, Chloé, Fendi, and Chanel. The dress code for this year was “in honor of Karl.” The hosts were Penélope Cruz, Michaela Coel, Roger Federer, Dua Lipa, and the editor-in-chief of Vogue, Anna Wintour, who has been running the event since 1995, excluding 1996 and 1998.
Every year it is a star-studded affair (or a “jerk parade”, according to Tina Fey). This year, Nicole Kidman donned the very same Chanel dress that she wore in the famous Chanel No. 5 advertisement from 2004. Both Serena Williams and the supermodel, Karlie Kloss, took the opportunity to unveil their baby bumps. Doja Cat showed up in an Oscar de la Renta gown with cat ears and feline makeup. The cat theme is symbolic as Lagerfeld was known for his fondness for his white pet cat, Choupette. Thus the actor, Jared Leto, came in an outrageous cat outfit, which included a cat head, resembling a Disneyland character. A less glamorous guest also showed up unannounced: a cockroach! A Twitter video posted by Variety magazine showed the uninvited bug darting across the red carpet after circumventing security. It was ultimately stomped to death.
Swift sensation
Taylor Swift kicked off her much anticipated Eras tour, returning to the stage for the first time in five years. She opened at the State Farm Stadium in Arizona. An hour into her performance she remarked that she was “really overwhelmed ... trying to keep it together all night.” She performed 44 hit songs over more than three hours which included “You Belong With Me”, “Shake It Off”, “Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince”, “Cruel Summer” and “Ready For It?”
Swift continued her 20-city US tour in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Nashville and others. It is expected to be one of the highest-grossing tours of all time, breaking attendance records. Glendale in Arizona temporarily renamed itself ‘Swift City’ in honour of the pop star. In Houston, her three-night stint resulted in the city earning the highest hotel revenue this year. A Bloomberg article called this “Swiftonomics”, highlighting that the tour reveals how consumers are willing to spend on things that they missed during the pandemic.
In other news, Ed Sheeran was spotted in Soho recently where he spontaneously got on top of a car with his guitar and sang several of his songs as a crowd gathered around and cheered him on. This came right after he won a copyright infringement lawsuit wherein a jury found that Sheeran’s chart-topping song “Thinking Out Loud” was not a copy of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On”.
Special day
Mother’s Day was celebrated on May 14 this year. The National Retail Federation projected this year’s Mother’s Day spending to be about $35 billion, with $5 billion spent on special outings alone. Flowers and greetings top the most popular gifts while people spent the highest on jewellery. A big theme for this year was wellness gifts. Searches for things like ‘oversized yoga mats’ and ‘watermelon glow mists’ have gone up over 200%.
Celebrities took to social media to observe the day. The former president, Donald Trump, posted a bizarre message on Truth Social but failed to mention his wife, Melania. He wished a happy Mother’s Day “to ALL, in particular the Mothers, Wives and Lovers of the Radical Left Fascists, Marxists, and Communists who are doing everything within their power to destroy and obliterate our once great Country.” Research shows that mothers are more likely than fathers to make sacrifices for their kids which has led to the wage gap. The World Economic Forum has called this the “motherhood penalty”.
Noodle mystery
A few weeks ago, more than 500 pounds of uncooked pasta was dumped near a stream in Old Bridge town in New Jersey, leaving the police and the community baffled. The pasta included a combination of spaghetti, ziti, macaroni and other noodles. The Department of Public Work took 15 wheelbarrows to clean it up. Pictures of the pasta were shared on social media. Pasta puns followed shortly, with The New York Times writing, “It was not clear if a large fork had been used” during the cleanup efforts.
Several theories floated on the internet. People wondered if it was a catering company which had a last-minute cancellation. Or a restaurant cooking Italian food for a football game that didn’t pan out. A local activist said she knows who did it but does not want to reveal the name.
