The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue. Among the Top 5 Most Visited Museums in NYC, it’s No. 1. Click through to find out the other four! (Photo: Kate Glicksberg for NYCgo)

Sahure was the second pharaoh of Ancient Egypt‘s 5th Dynasty.

Statue of Sahure Metropolitan museum of Art.

Met Gala 2015 - Best and Worst Dressed

After a long vacation from my blog - which I swear, it’s finished - I couldn’t help making my come back with a major red carpet event: the Met Gala Ball - not a case if it’s considered the Oscars of fashion.

This year the annual ball gave start to the exhibit ‘China: Through the Looking Glass’ and stars gathered in New York to show the most amazing and bizarre set of dresses you could imagine. In the last year, I must admit, I was bored by how few people dressed badly for such events, but the Met Gala is definitely the occasion in which celebrities show their worst - and I couldn’t be more pleased.

BEST DRESSED

You know I always prefer starting from the three best dressed and leave the juicy part at the end. It was pretty easy to choose, actually: most of the stars opted for dresses which were inspired by Chinese art and tradition, and this translated into costume and embarrassing moments most of the times - though Lady Gaga and Fan Bingbing showed on the red carpet in beautiful maxi kimonos. There were only few who nailed it, and these are my top 3.

Kendall Jenner in Calvin Klein Collection
Every best dressed list needs at least one simple dress - that’s why I chose her instead of Bee Shaffer, beautifully dresses in a stunning burgundy Alexander McQueen gown. And usually the most simple and elegant dresses on the red carpet are by Calvin Klein collection - seriously, I realised there’s at least a CK gown in each one of my red carpet reports. Kendall is young, beautiful, one of the most successful models of the moment, and of course she couldn’t but choose a blingy dress with a sexy twist - the strings on the side showing the right amount of skin. Loved the turtleneck, which balances the naked parts. 
★★★+

Sienna Miller in Thakoon
Jacket +  trousers is always a good idea for a very formal red carpet: it never gets old and you’re pretty sure very few people are going to wear it. That’s why I’m obsessed with this fringed ruby red Thakoon ensemble. The black elements make the colour pop and give a sophisticated aura. 
★★★★+

Uma Thurman in Atelier Versace
I don’t know if it’s the dress of if it’s Uma, I only know the combination of the two is just OUTSTANDING. She looked like a goddess coming from the sky to show us how mediocre we all are. It’s a pretty traditional choice for a red carpet event, and you all know I don’t really like traditional, but in this case everything is too right not to be noticed: the crisp white lights up the red carpet, the asymmetrical shape flatters the body, the draping gives lightness and elegance. I wanna be Uma Thurman, FML.
★★★★★

WORST DRESSED

All the celebrities condemned to hell and fire - and Sarah Jessica Parker’s outfit was definitely on topic. All the celebrities we love, after all, because they’re brave enough to wear something awful - or maybe they’re just not conscious of what they’re doing. Most of all, all the celebrities who, with their outfits, inspire the web to create the most hilarious memes of the moment. I have four special mentions for the bottom 3 list, the four outfits which were really close to gain this ambitious prize and yet they were surpassed by celebrities who literally throw themselves inside the closet to get dressed for the event: Jamie Bochert who went for a cheap hooker style, Madonna with her obsession in promoting her album, which made her choose an outfit stating REBEL HEART on the skirt (awful) and Grimes, sporting a little LEOPARD dress which you can definitely find at Primark for £9.99 and last but not least, Donatella Versace looking more and more like a a Afghan hound.

Sarah Jessica Parker in Philip Treacy hat and H&M dress
She definitely won, together with Rihanna, the most exhilarating memes of the web for their crazy over-the-top outfits. It’s not even a problem of brand - after all, we had, during the past, celebrities rocking H&M’s dresses, from Natalie Portman to the US first lady Michelle Obama - and the bizarre headpiece she’s wearing could even be defined a piece of art - after all, it’s Philip Treacy’s. No, the problem is just that this black gown is TERRIFYING. It looks like some sort of rubbish bag with litter thrown over it. I love you, Carrie, but I’ve always preferred the other three girls of the bunch.
††††

Kerry Washington in Prada
Kerry is one of the hottest actress now and Prada is one of my favourite brands. It couldn’t go wrong. Unfortunately the stylist who worked on this look managed to create a Frankenstein from scratch. The colour is horrendous on this silhouette, everything is too much, from the embroideries, to the glossy silk, to the maxi bows on the shoulders. For every red carpet event there’s a celebrity looking like a birthday cake, and this time, I’m sorry, it was Kerry.
††††

Zendaya in custom Fausto Puglisi
Even if she didn’t make it to the memes - or at least, I haven’t seen it yet - she even managed to beat SJP. The top part is nice and sexy, but when you get to the skirt, here you have the problems. It’s sort of intimidating and frightening, looking like a UFO with mysterious signs on it and a long tale with patterns reminding of the Backgammon board. It looks heavy, old-fashioned, sort of a nice little dress turned into something suitable for a Halloween party. A cheap Halloween party.
†††††

I say goodbye to you all, but not before sharing with you the most perfect meme human mind has ever created.

Byeeeeee <3

xxx

Knife with Ivory Hilt
Object Name: Dagger
Date: 19th century
Geography: Iran
Culture: Islamic
Medium: Steel, watered; ivory and gold

“Damascus” or “Watered” steel refers to blades like this one that have been given a wavy or “watered” pattern, created by specific smelting and crucible techniques, prior to forging. In Western Europe such blades were believed to originate from Damascus, though this technique was practiced in the Islamic Middle East at least since the Middle Ages. This 19th century example illustrates how even in the later period of Islamic art these artistic traditions remain popular and celebrated.

The forte and hilt of the top dagger are covered with chiseled decoration of floral motifs, arabesques and cartouches containing ducks and lions– ornament that can be found on a variety of media in later Persian art.

The bottom dagger has been inscribed with Qur'anic passages on the forte of the blade, as well as on the ivory handle. The inclusion of holy words on this object imbues it with talismanic properties, believed to offer protection and ward off evil. The most efficacious talismanic objects are those that are inscribed with prayers that evoke the name of God, the Prophet Muhammad and his companions.

Six Coins with Zodiac Signs
India
Mughal period (1526-1858)

These coins bear a zodiac symbols found on the other objects in the collection, but were not created for talismanic purposes. This sign instead corresponds to the month in which it was minted. In his memoirs, the Mughal emperor Jahangir recorded his inspired idea for the unusual design of this and other coins depicting the signs of the zodiac

Dat Greek booty

Statuette of Tiye
Dynasty 18
1390-1352 B.C.
Wood and Faience, Carnelian, Glass and Gold Beads
From Fayum

Tiye (also known as Tiy, 1398-1338 BCE) was a queen of Egypt of the 18th dynasty, wife of the pharaoh Amenhotep III, mother of Akhenaten, and grandmother of both Tutankhamun and Ankhsenamun. She exerted an enormous influence at the courts of both her husband and son and is known to have communicated directly with rulers of foreign nations. The Amarna letters also show that she was highly regarded by these rulers, especially during the reign of her son. Although she believed in the traditional polytheistic religion of Egypt, she supported Akhenaten’s monotheistic reforms, most likely because she recognized them as important political stratagems to increase the power of the throne at the expense of the priesthood of Amun. She died in her early sixties and was buried in the Valley of the Kings. Her mummy has positively been identified as that known as the ‘Elder Lady’, and a lock of her hair, possibly a keepsake of the young king’s, was found in Tutankhamun’s tomb.

The Royal Acquaintances Memi and Sabu

Old Kingdom
Dynasty 4
ca. 2575–2465 B.C.
Egypt, Memphite Region, el-Giza; inc. Nazlet el-Samman (Kafr el-Samman)
Limestone, paint

This statue evokes the intimacy of Memi and his companion, Sabu, although she is set somewhat apart by her oblique gaze.
Until recently, the flowering of nonroyal statuary was believed to have occurred only in the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties. Recent studies indicate, however, that many of these nonroyal statues, including Memi and Sabu, are better dated to the Fourth Dynasty, contemporary with the great royal statuary programs. The early date for Memi and Sabu is based both on her coiffure and on the reciprocated embrace.

sculpture gardening @ the Met (via·instagram)

midnight-charm:

Rihanna attends the Heavenly Bodies Costume Institute Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 7, 2018

Cigarette No. 37  1972, printed 1974

Penn experimented with photographic and printing processes throughout his career. The Platinum-Palladium print process, an old photographic method he revived, enabled Penn to achieve the level of tonal precision seen here.
Cigarette No. 37 is part of a series of cigarette butts shot at close range using a macro lens in the 1970s. In the absence of the context where one might usually find it (an ashtray, a gutter, or the street), the everyday form becomes large and mysterious, like an ancient ruin. This series inspired a larger investigation of detritus found on the street, including disintegrated work gloves, banana peels, and chewing gum. Entitled Street Material, this whole genre of his work was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1977. This solidified Penn’s reputation as a serious artist, not merely a fashion photographer.

Vintage MMA Brass / Gold Panther Brooch Pin - Modern Whimsical - Metropolitan Museum of Art - Mountain Lion Jaguar Catcat jewelry

New Blog Post. ‘For the love of punk’. Click here to find out the best dressed celebrities from this years Met Ball