The day Georgina Rodríguez wanted to 'pay tribute' to Lady Di at the Met Gala (and failed)

BarcelonaThe weight of a person's symbolism is decisive in any public initiative they may undertake. Or to put it another way: what an individual represents in the social subconscious will always redefine any project they wish to champion. Not only is he an arrogant person who treats people like idiots, but the charitable initiative ceases to be a charitable act and becomes a device designed to clean up the image of the fraudster who created it. No one makes stylistic decisions to stay home alone. This week we had an example of redefinition through the transmission of person-object values that, if style studies were serious, they would incorporate into their syllabi forever. at the 2025 Met Gala Georgina Rodríguez wanted to pay homage to none other than Lady Di. But not in a subtle way, something that could have been achieved with enough money for the production and a good media campaign, but in an obvious way. That is, by copying. In fact, the term to pay homage has come from the environment of Cristiano Ronaldo's wife, but if we practice journalism we should use the term emulateAnd if we take into account the final result, we should use the verb parody.

Tribute or parody?

What could go wrong with Diana Spencer and Georgina Rodriguez? Everything. What went wrong in the end? Everything except one thing: we have briefly recovered Lady Di's iconic moment at the Met Gala. In December 1996, Diana appeared for the first and last time—she would die a few months later—at the most iconic party in the world of fashion. Then the dress codes were not as closed as they are now and guests adapted more or less according to their will and abilities. people's princess decided that to pay tribute to the exhibition of the couturier Christian Dior, who was inaugurated that year with the party, would dress in a sleep dress Navy blue satin with exquisite lace trim around the neckline, framed by two thin straps also covered in lace. That dress was designed by none other than John Galliano, who had just taken over as creative director of Dior that year.

Diana's choice of dress was clearly a success despite the criticism it brought her among more conservative monarchists. Dior was the creator of the new look, a fashion trend that the French designer introduced in 1947 and which marked a return of femininity and glamour after the scarcity and minimalism imposed by the Second World War. Clearly, Diana and her innate delicacy were the perfect update – if not the sublimation. Blue reinterpreted the always sober staging that was assumed – especially thirty years ago – for a princess. It was a fabulous daring because it was well measured and exact, a generous concession to dress code of the party that shouldn't have been thrown by someone of her status, but which she did because she believed she had something to say within her social role. Above all, it was an exercise in feedback between her and the dress, which lent each other values in a perfect symbiosis. The dress humanized her, and she elevated a simple, affordable dress that many women could buy or have made by a dressmaker.

Overly ambitious project or short-sightedness?

Given that, it's incredible that anyone could imagine that Georgina Rodríguez could repeat that pop culture feat. That a person who is world-famous for staying at home doing nothing but collecting Birkins with the money her man earns playing soccer in an absolutist petro-dictatorship, and whose only message with her fame is that she loves sausages, could achieve the same effect as Lady Di is an insult to insult. Even more so if, on top of that, they want to pass off their bet as a plausible option under the dress code from this year's Met Gala, dedicated to the dandyism of African-American men.

That Georgina would want to debut at the Met Gala with a sleep dress The show, which displays its obvious physical and narrative qualities, is fine. She doesn't bear much responsibility in this regard. Rather, the responsibility falls on the person who invited her, who already knew that what was going to happen would be so brilliantly disappointing from a stylistic point of view. But of course, to make us believe that she's paying homage to Lady Di might be going too far. Thank goodness Diana, Princess of Wales, is no longer with us and won't be aware of this. tributeIn fact, the reference to the princess's visit to the 1996 gala was so subtle that the team at Vetements, the brand that dressed Georgina, had to come out and explain it, which is very sad because it demonstrates the narrative failure of their proposal.

Tribute or copy?

Guram Gvasalia, creative director of this Swiss firm, has explained that the starting point for creating theoutfit Georgina's was this: "When Georgina asked me to dress her for her first Met Gala, the first thing that came to mind was Princess Diana in a John Galliano lingerie gown." "We removed the lining from 10 different [men's] jackets and coats and transformed them into suits negligee, adorned with lace. Then, we cut these dresses and fused them into a single evening gown, sewn entirely by hand. Archetypal masculine pieces were transformed into a sensual and personalized silhouette," argued the creative.

Dystopian moments like these make you think a lot. First, about the lack of creativity of some people who dedicate themselves to creating fashion in the first division, whose first impulse is to go and look. Second, it seems incredible that of the enormous entourages that surround the biggest stars, there is no one with enough suspicion to see and explain to the star that the values of person and work reciprocally redefine each other. same dress about one character or another conveys very different messages. Different or even...

Thirdly, it highlights the low self-awareness of people who have become famous on the networks, surrounded by fandoms Uncritical and brands that laugh at their promotions. Finally, absurdities like this also highlight the lack of critical journalism in specialized fashion media, which only amplify the issue at hand and try not to step on anyone's toes in order to continue making money. If nothing stops this downward spiral, will anyone in 30 years consider it a good idea to pay tribute to Georgina's Met Gala debut? Habemus dramam.