Untitled

On a companion to the remade film’s official soundtrack, the pop superstar seeks full-fledged fusions with African musicians.

Beyoncé flexes both her musicianship and her cultural leverage with “The Lion King: The Gift,” her companion album to the state-of-the-art remake of “The Lion King.” It’s her latest lesson in commandeering mass-market expectations, as she bends “The Lion King” to her own agenda of African-diaspora unity, self-worth, parental responsibility and righteous ambition. Beyoncé was an obvious choice to be cast in an anointed blockbuster: the 25th-anniversary update of “The Lion King,” the 1994 animated Disney parable set in Africa. Its story of a young lion fleeing and then reclaiming his birthright had already generated a 1997 Broadway adaptation — still running — and movie sequels. Beyoncé has a voice role in the new version as the brave, conscientious lioness Nala; she also, of course, sings on the soundtrack. On the official soundtrack album, Beyoncé joins in a remake of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” the Oscar-winning song that ended the original “Lion King,” and caps the existing soundtrack songs with her new one, “Spirit,” a dynamic secular-gospel exhortation to “Rise up!” Beyoncé wrote and produced “Spirit” with the British producer Labrinth and with Ilya Salmanzadeh, a member of Max Martin’s Swedish songwriting stable; it’s also on “The Gift.” Image

Each song on “The Lion King: The Gift” is a coalition, almost always a trans-Atlantic one. But “The Gift” goes much further. With Beyoncé as executive producer and a songwriter and performer on most of its tracks, it’s essentially an alternative soundtrack album, tied to the plot of “The Lion King” (and interspersed with dialogue snippets) but decidedly more Afrocentric and more attuned to women’s strengths and experiences.

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Stay on top of the latest in pop and jazz with reviews, interviews, podcasts and more from The New York Times music critics. On “The Gift,” the movie’s plot points are springboards for songs like “Keys to the Kingdom,” “Scar” and “Already.” The album’s first full song, “Bigger,” is at once maternally protective and acutely aware of generational cycles and, as the video clip emphasizes, ecological interdependence: “You’re part of something way bigger,” Beyoncé sings, adding, “I’ll be the roots/You be the tree,” as a somber beat gathers under churchy keyboard chords. She follows “Bigger” with a paternal counterpart: “Find Your Way Back (Circle of Life),” with Beyoncé recalling a father’s lessons on a track that samples the Nigerian singer Niniola. Like many other Disney projects set outside the United States, in 1994 “The Lion King” fudged the specifics of a distant (from Hollywood) place with a well-intentioned but hazy first-world perspective; Africa is just Africa, without particular cultures, countries or regions. (It’s also unquestioningly celebrated as a patrilineal monarchy.) The wildlife and landscape of “The Lion King” suggest the Serengeti plains of Tanzania and Kenya, and its African names and words are in the Swahili language — all East African. Meanwhile, the movie’s music is largely non-African, steeped in Hollywood and Broadway idioms, with an orchestral score by the German composer Hans Zimmer (reworked for the 2019 version) and wordplay-loving, musical-theater-style songs by two Englishmen, Elton John and the lyricist Tim Rice. At key moments in the 1994 soundtrack, the South African musician Lebo M. (Lebohang Morake) provided South African-style choir arrangements and his own vocals, including the indelible opening incantation in “Circle of Life.” He gets far more prominent billing in the remake. Untethered to previous productions, Beyoncé has rethought “The Lion King” as 21st-century global pop, frequently drawing on Africa. Her throngs of collaborators include musicians, singers and producers from the U.S., England, Sweden, Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana and Cameroon (though not East Africa). It’s a canny, forward-looking move, both musically and with an eye to an international market that’s increasingly receptive to African innovations and non-English lyrics. Beyoncé even sings in Swahili at the end of “Otherside,” a ballad invoking life after death. How a New Kind of Pop Star Stormed 2018 Dec. 20, 2018

Sustainability. Of all the trends that have come and gone in my decade of reporting on fashion, this has proved to be the only one with real staying power. In fact, this year, it is everywhere. Sustainability was a theme for the graduation collections at Polimoda and other top fashion institutions. It has now become the defining principle of an entire fashion week in Helsinki. Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg won the first ever World Bloggers Award in Cannes for it. There is so much talk of sustainability, the subject has generated its own vocabulary. However, when it comes to the reality of it, for too many people “sustainability is a hashtag on a fast fashion t-shirt” as a colleague once put it. Fair Wear Foundation released its annual report and for three years in a row I noted a familiar name among the ranked industry leaders. Suitsupply, the Dutch maverick disrupting the bespoke tailoring market since 2000. I’ve written about the brand as it braved Silicon Valley brick-and-mortar amid the retail crisis and tactfully “scandalized” menswear advertising. It was time to sit down with CEO Fokke de Jong to talk about what makes a growing global fashion company sustainable.

Fokke de Jong, founder and CEO of Suitsupply COURTESY OF SUITSUPPLY Do you see sustainability as a trending way of doing business? Sustainability is not new to us; we have been working like this since the very beginning. It is integral to our product and business model. We have been partners with several industry “watchdogs” for over twelve years, long before anyone was even discussing ethical production. Our vision and role have always been to be part of the solution, not the problem. Upgrading to sustainable production could be prohibitively expensive for many brands and you were already working with top sources and mills. Is the cost worth the effort? Sustainability is not an upgrade, but integral to the product. Seeing sustainability as an upgrade would never work, because it is not… well, sustainable. It means that you started with an idea that was deeply flawed to begin with. To us it’s not an extra or add-on, it is a matter of how we do things, the choices we make and the fact that we do not compromise on quality. Hence, our partnership with E. Thomas Mill on Lake Lugano and other acclaimed artisans around the world. Without their skill and dedication Suitsupply would not exist. We encourage them to adapt and evolve as well. Our unique integrated logistics and communications model allows us to identity and improve anything that needs to be better.

Suitsupply's Circular Strategy STEPHAN RABIMOV Can you give an example of a business decision that improved sustainability?   It is almost never something flashy, really. We are changing our labels to be made from 100% recycled polyester. It’s a small symbolic step. We have set up a textile recycling program at almost two thirds our stores and worked to make over 70% of the fabrics we use biodegradable. To seriously reduce our CO2 imprint, we are reorganizing our shipping network to substitute flying with sea and rail routes as possible. We do not believe in good or bad factories. We believe in education and listening. We had 36 audits of our production facilities just last year in Macedonia, China and Vietnam. Over 600 workers got additional training on their rights. Sustainability is not a boardroom issue. Everything and everyone count.

Famous Italian Ormezzano Mill archives. COURTESY OF SUITSUPPLY With over a hundred stores in almost thirty countries and 50+ factories, how do you differentiate yourself from being labeled a fast fashion company?!  Well… we are very responsive to market, effective and direct. It is partially correct that Suitsupply is perceived as fast. However, the product we make is the opposite of fast fashion. It takes a lot of time and skill and craftmanship where you just cannot cut corners. You can only work on optimizing your operations. In a way, this is how we merge true fashion and good business. Our suits can last a lifetime when handled properly. Plus, all our shops have specialized in-store tailors that repair and amend. We just introduced the World’s Lightest Suit. It took us some time to make sure it had all the classic style elements, but weighed only 525g or 1.15 lbs. We believe this is the future. There is nothing fast about thinking long-term. How heavy is the standard suit? It depends, but easily at least twice that weight I mentioned above.

Ferla, over one hundred years old Italian company that produces 'Made in Italy' uncompromising quality textiles. COURTESY OF SUITSUPPLY Wow. Suits are often associated with luxury and luxury has the presumption of sustainability due to higher pricing… …and that is a hard stereotype to break. Expensive doesn’t necessarily mean that workers have decent jobs and that products were produced with respect to the environment. It is an open secret. I think the only way to break this harmful pattern of misinformation is to be transparent about where and by whom the product is made. I invite you to see this video of our sartorial historian Jort Kelder visiting mills in Italy for a closer look. We report annually our step by step process all along the supply chain and let third parties audit us. Going the extra mile in creating systemic change within the apparel industry must be the new status quo.

This week, the brand announced an ambitious plan to transition to sustainable fabrics and recycling. But it needs to rethink the design of its clothes, not just how they are manufactured.

Last fall, at New York Fashion Week, tie-dye was absolutely everywhere: Everyone from Prada to Stella McCartney to Proenza Schouler sent models down the catwalk in hippie-inspired gowns and T-shirts. But for those of us who can’t afford to drop $2,000 on embroidered tie-dye gowns, Zara had our back. Just like clockwork, $39.99 sequined tie-dye dresses and $29.99 tie-dye shorts started appearing on the racks of Zara stores this spring. Zara, a brand that generates $20 billion in annual sales, both pioneered and perfected the art of fast fashion. Zara’s 300 designers churn out 12,000 new designs every year and for the most fashion-forward pieces, it takes as little as six weeks to go from a sketch to a product on a shelf. But as the fashion industry moves toward more eco-friendly practices, it’s worth asking: Can fast fashion ever really be sustainable?

Inditex, Zara’s $29 billion parent company, believes it can. It just announced an ambitious new sustainability plan that would impact all eight of its brands, a group that includes Massimo Dutti and Pull&Bear. This is part of a broader push to make the industry less polluting. Over the last few months, other fashion giants like Nike and Gap Inc. have made similar commitments to using more sustainable materials and cutting down on their carbon footprints. But here’s the thing: Trendy clothes have a short shelf life. Case in point: Zara’s tie-dye pieces I referenced above are currently 30% to 50% off, in an effort to clear the inventory to make room for the next trend. One reason fashion is such a blight on the planet is that we’re simply consuming too much of it. The apparel industry produces more than 150 billion clothes every year for only 7 billion humans. Over the last 15 years, clothing production has doubled, and yet the average number of times a garment is worn before it is discarded has decreased by 36%. Many clothes are worn just seven to 10 times before they’re thrown out. So if Zara wants to become more sustainable, it may need to rethink the design of its clothes, not just how they are manufactured.

AMBITIOUS SUSTAINABILITY TARGETS

For Inditex, a key part of the plan is to overhaul the fabrics it uses to create garments. By 2025, the company pledges that all of the cotton, linen, and polyester used across the company will be either organic, sustainable, or recycled. (When I asked for clarification about what “sustainable” means in this context, a spokesperson said that it refers to prioritizing more energy- and water-friendly processes in the growing and manufacturing of these textiles.) Inditex also pledges to invest in developing new recycling technologies. The company already collaborates with MIT on a $4 million project that researches new ways to recover fibers from old garments using clean energy. Inditex has also begun creating systems to collect old garments to divert them from landfills. In 2016, it began collecting used garments in 1,382 stores across 24 markets, and by 2018, it had already collected 34,158 tons. In 2017, it created a program to pick up used clothes from people’s homes when delivering online orders in Beijing and Shanghai, and within a year it had managed to collect more than 850,000 items of clothing from that effort alone. The idea is that as soon as new recycling technologies emerge, Inditex will be able to quickly funnel old clothes into these machines, recover fibers, and create new garments from them in a circular system. Besides these material-related plans, Inditex says it is working to cut down on the pollution it creates. It says it will cut out all single-use plastics from all sales by 2023 (which means both plastic bags in stores and the thin plastic bags that are used for online orders). And it plans to shift 80% of its energy to renewable sources across its stores, logistics centers, and offices.

KEEPING THE FAST, LOSING THE FASHION

This week, the brand announced an ambitious plan to transition to sustainable fabrics and recycling. But it needs to rethink the design of its clothes, not just how they are manufactured.

Last fall, at New York Fashion Week, tie-dye was absolutely everywhere: Everyone from Prada to Stella McCartney to Proenza Schouler sent models down the catwalk in hippie-inspired gowns and T-shirts. But for those of us who can’t afford to drop $2,000 on embroidered tie-dye gowns, Zara had our back. Just like clockwork, $39.99 sequined tie-dye dresses and $29.99 tie-dye shorts started appearing on the racks of Zara stores this spring. Zara, a brand that generates $20 billion in annual sales, both pioneered and perfected the art of fast fashion. Zara’s 300 designers churn out 12,000 new designs every year and for the most fashion-forward pieces, it takes as little as six weeks to go from a sketch to a product on a shelf. But as the fashion industry moves toward more eco-friendly practices, it’s worth asking: Can fast fashion ever really be sustainable?

Inditex, Zara’s $29 billion parent company, believes it can. It just announced an ambitious new sustainability plan that would impact all eight of its brands, a group that includes Massimo Dutti and Pull&Bear. This is part of a broader push to make the industry less polluting. Over the last few months, other fashion giants like Nike and Gap Inc. have made similar commitments to using more sustainable materials and cutting down on their carbon footprints. But here’s the thing: Trendy clothes have a short shelf life. Case in point: Zara’s tie-dye pieces I referenced above are currently 30% to 50% off, in an effort to clear the inventory to make room for the next trend. One reason fashion is such a blight on the planet is that we’re simply consuming too much of it. The apparel industry produces more than 150 billion clothes every year for only 7 billion humans. Over the last 15 years, clothing production has doubled, and yet the average number of times a garment is worn before it is discarded has decreased by 36%. Many clothes are worn just seven to 10 times before they’re thrown out. So if Zara wants to become more sustainable, it may need to rethink the design of its clothes, not just how they are manufactured.

AMBITIOUS SUSTAINABILITY TARGETS

For Inditex, a key part of the plan is to overhaul the fabrics it uses to create garments. By 2025, the company pledges that all of the cotton, linen, and polyester used across the company will be either organic, sustainable, or recycled. (When I asked for clarification about what “sustainable” means in this context, a spokesperson said that it refers to prioritizing more energy- and water-friendly processes in the growing and manufacturing of these textiles.) Inditex also pledges to invest in developing new recycling technologies. The company already collaborates with MIT on a $4 million project that researches new ways to recover fibers from old garments using clean energy. Inditex has also begun creating systems to collect old garments to divert them from landfills. In 2016, it began collecting used garments in 1,382 stores across 24 markets, and by 2018, it had already collected 34,158 tons. In 2017, it created a program to pick up used clothes from people’s homes when delivering online orders in Beijing and Shanghai, and within a year it had managed to collect more than 850,000 items of clothing from that effort alone. The idea is that as soon as new recycling technologies emerge, Inditex will be able to quickly funnel old clothes into these machines, recover fibers, and create new garments from them in a circular system. Besides these material-related plans, Inditex says it is working to cut down on the pollution it creates. It says it will cut out all single-use plastics from all sales by 2023 (which means both plastic bags in stores and the thin plastic bags that are used for online orders). And it plans to shift 80% of its energy to renewable sources across its stores, logistics centers, and offices.

KEEPING THE FAST, LOSING THE FASHION

Sustainability. Of all the trends that have come and gone in my decade of reporting on fashion, this has proved to be the only one with real staying power. In fact, this year, it is everywhere. Sustainability was a theme for the graduation collections at Polimoda and other top fashion institutions. It has now become the defining principle of an entire fashion week in Helsinki. Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg won the first ever World Bloggers Award in Cannes for it. There is so much talk of sustainability, the subject has generated its own vocabulary. However, when it comes to the reality of it, for too many people “sustainability is a hashtag on a fast fashion t-shirt” as a colleague once put it. Fair Wear Foundation released its annual report and for three years in a row I noted a familiar name among the ranked industry leaders. Suitsupply, the Dutch maverick disrupting the bespoke tailoring market since 2000. I’ve written about the brand as it braved Silicon Valley brick-and-mortar amid the retail crisis and tactfully “scandalized” menswear advertising. It was time to sit down with CEO Fokke de Jong to talk about what makes a growing global fashion company sustainable.

Fokke de Jong, founder and CEO of Suitsupply COURTESY OF SUITSUPPLY Do you see sustainability as a trending way of doing business? Sustainability is not new to us; we have been working like this since the very beginning. It is integral to our product and business model. We have been partners with several industry “watchdogs” for over twelve years, long before anyone was even discussing ethical production. Our vision and role have always been to be part of the solution, not the problem. Upgrading to sustainable production could be prohibitively expensive for many brands and you were already working with top sources and mills. Is the cost worth the effort? Sustainability is not an upgrade, but integral to the product. Seeing sustainability as an upgrade would never work, because it is not… well, sustainable. It means that you started with an idea that was deeply flawed to begin with. To us it’s not an extra or add-on, it is a matter of how we do things, the choices we make and the fact that we do not compromise on quality. Hence, our partnership with E. Thomas Mill on Lake Lugano and other acclaimed artisans around the world. Without their skill and dedication Suitsupply would not exist. We encourage them to adapt and evolve as well. Our unique integrated logistics and communications model allows us to identity and improve anything that needs to be better.

Suitsupply's Circular Strategy STEPHAN RABIMOV Can you give an example of a business decision that improved sustainability?   It is almost never something flashy, really. We are changing our labels to be made from 100% recycled polyester. It’s a small symbolic step. We have set up a textile recycling program at almost two thirds our stores and worked to make over 70% of the fabrics we use biodegradable. To seriously reduce our CO2 imprint, we are reorganizing our shipping network to substitute flying with sea and rail routes as possible. We do not believe in good or bad factories. We believe in education and listening. We had 36 audits of our production facilities just last year in Macedonia, China and Vietnam. Over 600 workers got additional training on their rights. Sustainability is not a boardroom issue. Everything and everyone count.

Famous Italian Ormezzano Mill archives. COURTESY OF SUITSUPPLY With over a hundred stores in almost thirty countries and 50+ factories, how do you differentiate yourself from being labeled a fast fashion company?!  Well… we are very responsive to market, effective and direct. It is partially correct that Suitsupply is perceived as fast. However, the product we make is the opposite of fast fashion. It takes a lot of time and skill and craftmanship where you just cannot cut corners. You can only work on optimizing your operations. In a way, this is how we merge true fashion and good business. Our suits can last a lifetime when handled properly. Plus, all our shops have specialized in-store tailors that repair and amend. We just introduced the World’s Lightest Suit. It took us some time to make sure it had all the classic style elements, but weighed only 525g or 1.15 lbs. We believe this is the future. There is nothing fast about thinking long-term. How heavy is the standard suit? It depends, but easily at least twice that weight I mentioned above.

Ferla, over one hundred years old Italian company that produces 'Made in Italy' uncompromising quality textiles. COURTESY OF SUITSUPPLY Wow. Suits are often associated with luxury and luxury has the presumption of sustainability due to higher pricing… …and that is a hard stereotype to break. Expensive doesn’t necessarily mean that workers have decent jobs and that products were produced with respect to the environment. It is an open secret. I think the only way to break this harmful pattern of misinformation is to be transparent about where and by whom the product is made. I invite you to see this video of our sartorial historian Jort Kelder visiting mills in Italy for a closer look. We report annually our step by step process all along the supply chain and let third parties audit us. Going the extra mile in creating systemic change within the apparel industry must be the new status quo.

Creative director Joseph Ejiro teases his limited edition couture line with a short fashion film. According to him, this has been a labor of love. The collection was inspired by strong, powerful and independent women, setting the pace for young girls to follow. being role models to look up to. watch here:

A Ghanaian model named Grace Ama Mensimah Amponsah went missing barely a day after arriving in Paris. The beautiful lady had been scheduled to feature at 4 major shows in Monaco, the just concluded Cannes Film Festival and she was also meant to have follow up meetings with the world's leading modeling agency Elite Models in Paris. After she was found, she did a radio interview with Hitz Fm, in response to the interview, her management company had this to say: "The organizers of Ghana’s next Supermodel and managers of Grace Amponsah wishes to make the following statement based on her interview with Hitz Fm 103XX. Grace made three allegations 1. She did not run away. 2. Two she did not get car prize. 3. Paris was her first trip post her winning and travel was one of her prizes. In response to one, we can speak no further to this issue than a copy of the attached police report filed when Grace went missing and ran away to Belgium.

In response to two , we can only say once an individual engages in mistruths and deception, only fools will believe her, Grace got her car and agreed with management that she was a minor and the value of the car should be spent on her marketing and promotion. It is not the job of a manager to pay for air fares to shows, hotel accommodation, food and related expenses. Grace was aware of her responsibilities and was also aware that she and her adviser(mother) were incapable of meeting the responsibilities and so a deal was struck with her managers. Since winning her event and until she went on a public show of shame, Grace has never demanded a car as she was fully aware of her agreement. In response to three three, Grace said this Paris Trip was her first international trip and as a child who knows nothing guided by her mother, she conveniently forgot that she had made a previous trip to the Netherlands where she featured at fashion shows and photo shoots. She also conveniently forgot that she had earlier done shows in Nigeria except she forgets that both of these countries are international travels. We leave sensible people to comprehend the facts, once a liar always a liar.

The fashion world lost one of its most-celebrated designers at the start of this year when Karl Lagerfeld passed away in February. During his career he served as creative director for two major fashion houses, Chanel and Fendi, as well as heading up his own namesake label, Karl Lagerfeld, and now, these three fashion brands will come together to celebrate his legacy through a special tribute, entitled “Karl For Ever”.

Sales of chic brands of knapsacks are soaring – and it’s women who are driving the trend

 Women are increasingly turning to the backpack as it’s practical and, increasingly, stylish. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo They used to be carried by the slightly awkward-looking kids in the school playground or hikers and were much more likely to be sported by men than women. But now, go to any high street, office or packed rush-hour bus and the humble backpack is everywhere. Fashion searches for rucksacks are up 37% month-on-month, according to global fashion search platform Lyst. In the UK the annual amount spent on backpacks has risen every year since 2014 when, according to global market research company Euromonitor, the retail spend was £112m – it forecasts the 2019 figure will be £219.5m. “There has been an enormous change in attitudes towards day packs,” says Ralph White, UK managing director of the Swedish rucksack brand Fjällräven.

 Blogger Susie Bubble sporting a backpack. Photograph: Yooxcom According to Domitille Parent, product director at Eastpak, a brand that has been making rucksacks for over 40 years, an increasing number of backpack buyers are women: nearly 60% of online sales in the UK are made by women, and that number has been rising year-on-year. In the US, according to the market research firm NPD, sales of what they label women’s backpacks are up by 28% in the past year – with New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco the top three growth regions – while sales of men’s backpacks are down. Of course, it should be no surprise that women are using a style of bag that is practical and – increasingly – stylish, too. But it has taken something of a shift in attitudes for the backpack to find mainstream traction in workplaces – and gender parity. As with many things, Miuccia Prada was a pioneer: when she released a nylon rucksack, made from military parachute fabric, in 1984, it was considered radical. All the other bags around were, she said in a recent interview with Vogue magazine, “so formal, so lady, so traditional”. In the past, style blogger and backpack-wearer Susie Lau, aka Susie Bubble, has cited the Phoebe Philo effect. As former designer at Celine, Philo led the charge for what many brand “ugly” fashion, from Birkenstocks and clogs to backpacks. Skipping forward to 2016, Burberry’s monogrammed backpacks were the elevated version that convinced the likes of Cara Delevingne to embrace the look. At the Tribeca film festival last year Sarah Jessica Parker, the woman to thank for sparking many an impractical tiny handbag trend, was spotted wearing a rucksack on the red carpet. On the Prada men’s AW19 catwalk they were worn by Gigi Hadid and Kaia Gerber, and Chanel’s 2020 Cruise show featured a tweed backpack. With many high-fashion brands, from Gucci to Coach, making rucksacks; the mid range of the market seeing a proliferation of more sophisticated designs – from the likes of Herschel to Dr Martens – and more than 400 styles offered on Asos, backpacks have come a long way from the days of Power Rangers or My Little Pony bags.

We've waited an entire year, but the Met Gala has finally arrived once again. This year's theme, Camp: Notes on Fashion, is one for the books, but it also has even the most astute fashion freaks slightly confused. Andrew Bolton, the curator of the Costume Institute, took inspiration from Susan Sontag'sNotes on "Camp" essay in which she explained the meaning of the word via 58 detailed definitions, one of which was the "love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration." If you didn't quite grasp the theme the first (or fifth) time someone tried to explain it to you, hopefully, that fun fact will have you feeling a little better about yourself. When I think of camp, I think of something—a dress, shoe, earring, or headpiece—so extravagant, it walks the line of being tacky but doesn't cross it. It's exaggerated in every sense of the word—it's avant-garde, it's pop culture, it's fabulous. This year's co-chairs—Lady Gaga; Alessandro Michelle, creative director of Gucci; Harry Styles; and Serena Williams—could not embody the true aesthetic of the theme more, and we can't wait to see what each will wear tomorrow on the red carpet.

Pinterest PHOTO: VALENTINO AND RICHARD QUINN VIA IMAXTREE   In an effort to ensure you can boldly talk about this year's Met Gala theme tomorrow with the utmost confidence, we tapped Celenie Seidel, the senior womenswear editor at Farfetch, for a handful of trends we can expect to see all over the red carpet. Since the word "camp," by definition can be quite elusive, we figured breaking it down via concrete trends will help to paint the theme in a better light. Ahead, read up on the five trends Seidel is predicting we will see tomorrow and shop some pieces inspired by each. Fun, Fun, Fun

Pinterest PHOTO: NO. 21 VIA IMAXTREE   “This year’s Met Gala theme invites a particularly audacious aesthetic—it will honor an important, progressive culture that challenges convention and celebrates exuberance.” Shop the trend:

Pinterest SHOP 16Arlington Feathered Sequin Mini Dress ($2791)  

Pinterest SHOP Amen Sleeveless Sequin Gown ($2999)  

Pinterest SHOP Paco Rabanne Vintage Rhodoid Disc Dess ($10665)  

Pinterest SHOP Nº21 Body Outline Scarf ($1675)  

Pinterest SHOP Marine Serre Godet Flare T-Shirt Dress ($1792)   Over-the-Top Footwear

Pinterest PHOTO: ATTICO VIA IMAXTREE   “Eye-catching at towering heights: the footwear on the red carpet will terrify podiatrists and thrill spectators.” Shop the trend:

Pinterest SHOP Amina Muaddi Holly Laser Pumps ($543)  

Pinterest SHOP Miu Miu Satin Platform Sandals ($950)  

Pinterest SHOP Midnight 00 Black 105 Polka Dot Tulle and PVC Pumps ($1473)  

Pinterest SHOP Attico Multicoloured Bibbi Greta Platform Heels ($1411)  

Pinterest SHOP Area 110 Crystal Embellished Pumps ($925)   Big Dress Energy

Pinterest PHOTO: VALENTINO VIA IMAXTREE   “This year BDE has been reclaimed by the Big Dress Energy movement, and the Met Gala is the perfect arena for scaling up: Guests may be competing for floor space on the red carpet!” Shop the trend:

Pinterest SHOP Richard Quinn Crystal-Embellished Floral Dress ($3580)  

Pinterest SHOP Valentino Vintage Ruffled Lace Gown ($2083)  

Pinterest SHOP Jacquemus La Robe Rosa Dress ($1038)  

Pinterest SHOP Oscar de la Renta Feathered Ball Gown ($303888)  

Pinterest SHOP Christian Siriano Cape Detail Gown ( $5595) $2238   Lobe Drama

Pinterest PHOTO: AREA VIA IMAXTREE   “Lobe drama is bound to be a thing—the bigger and more extreme, the better.” Shop the trend:

Pinterest SHOP Justine Clenquet Jade Earrings ($135)  

Pinterest SHOP Alessandra Rich Clam Shell Earrings ($370)  

Pinterest SHOP Balenciaga Heart Pearl Earrings ($650)  

Pinterest SHOP Miu Miu Crystal Earrings ($340)  

Pinterest SHOP Saint Laurent Metal Crystal Earrings ($1195)   '80s Glamour

Pinterest PHOTO: RICHARD QUINN VIA IMAXTREE   “There will be no shortage of glamour at this year’s gala, including many impressive archive pieces. With the industry currently reliving a strong '80s moment, I’m sure we’ll be seeing no shortage of flashback glamour.” Shop the trend:

Pinterest SHOP Alexandre Vauthier Party Cocktail Dress ($2502)  

Pinterest SHOP Yves Saint Laurent Vintage 1987 Bow Short Dress ($5100)  

Pinterest SHOP Versace Printed Bandeau Mini Dress ($2095)  

Pinterest SHOP De La Vali Alma Tiger Print Silk Dress ($788)  

The Met Gala is one of the most glamorous nights of the year, but it’s not exactly a raucous time. The party is as famed for its draconian rules, militant sense of order and social and political minefields as for its over-the-top red carpet, with celebs like Gwyneth Paltrow and Amy Schumer bashing the bash as “unfun” and “punishment,” respectively. But such grousing apparently hasn’t inspired Met Gala impresario Anna Wintour from relaxing the rules. Here are some of the laws that attendees must follow.

It’s a selfie-free zone

What happens at the Met Gala stays at the Met Gala. (Or lives on Vogue.com.) The event is so exclusive that guests have been forbidden to take photos or videos with their phone, for fear they would post them on social media. Of course, every year some celeb decides to flaunt the rules and post a bathroom selfie or Instagram story, a la Kylie Jenner.

Cellphones are forbidden

In fact, looking at your phone at all — whether for picture-taking or texting purposes — seems to be verboten. Former Met Ball planner Sylvana Durrett admitted in 2016 that staffers even check on guests’ cellphone usage. “We aren’t sitting over people’s shoulders,” she said at the time, “but if it’s an obvious thing we might gently remind them.” “Anna is sort of an old-school traditionalist,” she explained. “She likes a dinner party where people are actually speaking to each other.”

There’s an age limit

Teen starlet Maddie Ziegler surprised some fashionistas last year when she was not invited to the Met Gala because she wasn’t old enough. (The event had boasted underage attendees before, such as Jaden and Willow Smith.) But party planners told the Hollywood Reporter that children would no longer be admitted to the bash, saying “it was not an appropriate event for people under 18”. Sorry, Millie Bobby Brown — see you in 2021!

No smoking

New York City bans smoking indoors, and the Met Gala is no exception. However, that didn’t stop a bevy of celebs — from Marc Jacobs to Bella Hadid to Dakota Jackson — from lighting up in the bathroom at 2017’s event, sparking outrage among museum board members. “Mostly, it’s disrespectful to the art collection, which needs to be kept 100% smoke-free,” one donor told Page Six at the time. “I would honestly like to see these people fined by the city.” Now, the invites specify there’s no smoking at the event, and last year there were reportedly staffers sniffing for fumes outside the loo.

Mingle, even if you aren’t single

Apparently, Anna Wintour frowns on famous people bringing their spouses, and at the very least sits them far apart from one another, to encourage mingling. In the documentary about the Met Gala, “The First Monday in May,” she groused about someone asking to bring her hubby, and relented on the condition he didn’t spend the whole evening on his phone again. (Page Six later reported that the guest was Allison Williams’ husband, Ricky Van Veen.) As Durrett explained in the doc, “The whole point of these things is to meet new people, and to be interested in what others are doing. What’s the point if you come here to hang out with your husband?”

No unattractive food

There are certain ingredients and dishes that the gala’s caterer is instructed to avoid, such as parsley (“you don’t want that stuck in your teeth,” a former Vogue staffer told The Post in 2016), onion and garlic (bad breath) and messy appetizers like bruschetta. Last year’s special guest Cardinal Dolan found the food so paltry that he sent out for street hot dogs during the event, which was definitely not kosher.

You don’t refuse an invite, unless you’re Beyoncé

Sure, you can decline an invitation to the Met Gala — if you never want to be invited again.

Apparently, Wintour doesn’t take no for an answer. “I know people who decided not to go one year because they weren’t around or didn’t like the theme,” one socialite told Page Six in 2017. “Once you do that, you’re not invited back unless you’re triple A-list.”

No publicists allowed

Badgalriri’s beauty line is “Getting Hotter." Beyoncé’s not the only queen of secret product drops. Yesterday, Fenty Beauty revealed that Rihanna has been teasing products from her summer collection for an entire year. The summer assortment, aptly titled “The Getting Hotter Collection,” is chock full of color. With liquid eyeliners and lipsticks ranging from blues, greens and the beauty industry’s hottest atomic pink shade, RiRi started wearing her line last April at Fenty x Puma’s Coachella party. The beauty mogul was seen partying with the BAECAY Vivid Liquid Eyeliner Trio in the pink shade Hottie Alert on her lids. Two months later, the superstar debuted another shade of her BAECAY Vivid Liquid Eyeliners in the pure white shade Wet Shirt, to compliment her starkly bright athleisure while sitting front row at the Louis Vuitton Men’s Show in Paris. It wasn’t until an entire year later that RiRi secretly showed off more shades and varying ways to wear the highly-anticipated summer products on the May 2019 cover of Harper’s Bazaar. On the cover of the magazine’s beauty issue, Rihanna showed off her mesmeric green eye covered in the Poutsicle Juicy Satin Lipstick in shades Purpsicle, Sun Snatched, Tropic Tantrum and Motorboat – showing off the lip products’ versatility. In the same photo, she reveals two more shades of her upcoming liquid eyeliners: Techno Beet, a bold berry, and Hollapeño, an eye-catching green. With graphic eye trends and brightly swiped lips showing up all over runways and Instagram feeds this year, Rihanna clearly saw the bold color trend in advance – or maybe, like most desirable beauty and fashion trends, she started it.   Fenty Beauty by Rihanna Getting Hotter Collection will be available May 10th for a limited time in Sephora stores and online.

Baecay Eyeliner Trio

Baeside Eyeliner Trio

Baewatch Eyeliner Trio

Poutsicle Lip in Go Deep

Poutsicle Lip in Tropic Tantrum

Poutsicle Lip in Alpha Doll

Poutsicle Lip in Hot Blooded

Poutsicle Lip in Motorboat

Poutsicle Lip in Purpsicle

Poutsicle Lip in Sun Snatched

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