“The Met Ball is the night when fashion people from models to actresses to designers dress up in their themed black-tie best”, to celebrate the opening of the museum’s annual costume exhibit. But before likes of Kimye, Anne Hathaway, and Taylor Swift walk the red carpet this evening, Michelle Obama cut the ribbon on the Metropolitan Museum’s renovated $40 million costume center, called the Anna Wintour Costume Center.
Dressed in a springy green Naeem Khan number, the first lady opened the center with fashion bigwigs like Carolina Herrera, Victoria Beckham, Marc Jacobs, Sarah Jessica Parker, Diane von Furstenberg, and Donatella Versace watching. Obama, who has become a strong figure in the fashion industry since her husband was first elected in 2008, also announced that she, along with Wintour, is organizing a fashion workshop at the White House for students.
The exhibit, which opens to the public Thursday May 8th, honors Charles James, an influential designer known for his glamorous, sculptural gowns, who dressed the likes of Marlene Dietrich and Gypsy Rose Lee starting in the 1930s.