The 2020 Met Gala Is Now An Instagram Challenge

The Met Gala may not be happening IRL this year, but that doesn't mean Vogue has given up on having some sort celebration in lieu of the red carpet. Vogue and Billy Porter have announced the #MetGalaChallenge, inviting us lowly civilians to recreate our favorite Met Gala looks from years past on Instagram.

The challenge begins, *checks watch*, today and runs until May 3. Vogue and Porter will announce the winners on May 4, the Met Gala’s originally scheduled date, in a Vogue article and a select few will have their designs displayed on Vogue’s Instagram for its nearly 27-million followers.

Porter was a wise choice as the challenge's ambassador. He's recently been using his isolation time to launch his own Instagram fashion challenges, asking fans to recreate his Sun God look from the 2019 Met Gala with anything they could find in their homes. After an overwhelming response, he then challenged people to show off their best runway walk to show off their "chicest couch potato lewks."

If an Instagram challenge still isn't enough to fill the void left by the canceled red carpet event, high fashion twitter is already planning a virtual gala to take its place, opening the door for anyone to show off their Met Gala-ready looks online. The event, naturally, is slated for May 4.

"In real life, you might not be able to pull that priceless archival Schiaparelli piece or wear the amazing Westwood heels because of the delicate condition," hf twitter organizer Aria Olson told NYLON. "But those boundaries don't exist in the online world. [This] opens the door for people to fully express a creative vision without having to worry about real world issues. It's almost like a higher form of escapism, one where fantasy reigns supreme and impracticality isn't an issue."

While we anticipate the winners of the #MetGalaChallenge, we'll be thinking of ways to recreate our own version of Rihanna's Maison Margiela pope look from 2018.