Five Ideas To Get You To The Met Gala Next Time

By Karen and Erica

Sadly, neither of us was invited to the Met Gala. If we had been, what would we have worn? Probably none of Lady Gaga’s outfits—though she is one of our inspirations when it comes to image. But we think we could have come up with something. Here are five ideas to get you thinking about your own closet.

1. Unexpected sparkles. Many vintage stores have truly campy stuff. Karen bought an amazing man’s tuxedo jacket several decades ago—when it was already several decades old. Someone painted it with sparkly fish. It will never go out of style. It can be worn anywhere—to the Green Market, to work, and yes, even to the Met. It is a little large for a small person, but we don’t sweat the small stuff.

2. Unusual shoes. Along the same lines, Erica found in her closet some incredible shoes, also decades old, that are sparkly green and look as if they were made from fish scales, sort of like these. And what about Arabian slippers? They also would go with everything, and absolutely anywhere, don’t you think?

3. Net skirts. These are really a current clothing item, to be worn over something because they are totally see through. At the Met they would probably be worn over a nude bodysuit—or a nude body. We would wear them with leggings, or shorter skirts. A layer of color and contrast and fun. And slightly suggestive.

4. Long fishtail trains. These, of course, are difficult to wear while doing your normal activities. In fact they are usually worn only at your wedding. But we have two ideas we like—one, if you find a slinky one in a vintage store, crop it along its original lines so you can wear it out to dinner, and two, go see Gabrielle Carlson, who specializes in skirts and dresses with swooping hems that have the same effect as a fishtail. All in glorious colors, made for you, and reasonable.

5. Sculptural Bags. You’ve heard of Judith Lieber, of course, but there are a lot of other entertaining bags out there that are cheaper. You could build a campy outfit around one of them.

So where do we go for campy? We like vintage stores that are in places where fashionable people live. Preferable rich fashionable people because they dispose of their clothes so often. We are most familiar with locations in Manhattan, but we are starting to think we need to get to Williamsburg. Here are some we know, and some we don’t.

1. What Goes Around Comes Around. We love the Soho store on West Broadway, which has a glorious array of vintage kimonos (which would be perfect for any gala). Also vintage Chanel, and lots of other haute designers. Quite expensive, though, so usually we just look.

2. Beacon’s Closet. We go to the store on 13th street near Fifth. You need to spend some time digging, but you can find some treasures here for almost no money. We understand the biggest and best store is in Brooklyn, and we plan to go soon!

3. INA. INA falls in between the first two—not as high end as WGACA, but you can find some very cool designer bargains. A friend found the Issey Miyake dress of a lifetime in the Spring Street store—she’s six feet tall and this dress—long, turquoise with black dots on points of tortured fabric—made her look like a queen. A slightly funky queen. Another store full of slightly wild stuff is on East 13th Street.

4. Buffalo Exchange. The Buffalo Exchange store in Chelsea is near the Fashion Institute of Technology. (By the way, FIT has a really cool museum to visit after you shop.) We think that its proximity to young designers gives it some heft. You have to look, but we found some Dolce pants, made of fabric with huge red flowers on an azure background, for almost nothing.

5. City Opera Thrift Shop. This one can be pretty high end, but for a good cause. And it has lots more than clothes.

Let us know what you wear, where you wear it, and if you were the belle of the ball!