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| Courtesy: Bellanaija |
By Joe Kukoyi
For starters, fashion conversations around events like the Met Gala and the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (funnily taking place within the same month yearly) often reduce style to “best dressed” versus “worst dressed.” But those labels are usually misunderstood. Why is because they are not simply about beauty, expensive clothing, or body shape. Nope. In serious fashion discourse, they are about interpretation, intention, execution, and relevance to the theme, any chosen theme at all.
The (buzz around the) Met Gala, held a few days back, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, makes this especially obvious because it is not an ordinary red carpet. It is a costume institute fundraiser built around a curatorial theme (and this year's was "Costume is Art" with the dress code "Fashion is Art"). Hence, the assignment is not merely to “look good”; it is to communicate an idea through fashion, and that distinction changes the meaning of dressing well entirely.
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| Courtesy: Vogue Australia |
So, a “best dressed” celebrity is often someone who understands fashion as language. Their outfit engages the exhibition theme, references history or culture, and still maintains coherence in silhouette, styling, tailoring, and performance. The clothes become a form of storytelling. Rihanna, for example, is repeatedly praised not simply because she wears luxury fashion, but because she commits fully to narrative dressing. Her appearances usually feel intentional, theatrical, and aligned with the event’s intellectual direction, notwithstanding how much she's been dragged already this year following the perception of a handful who felt she didn't hit the mark. A “worst dressed” look, on the other hand, is not always ugly clothing. Sometimes the garment itself is beautiful, technically impressive, or extremely expensive, yet still fails because it ignores the assignment. A celebrity can arrive in a flawless couture gown and still be criticized if the look feels generic, uninspired, or disconnected from the theme. In fashion criticism, irrelevance is often worse than imperfection.
This is where many audiences misunderstand themed fashion events. They judge outfits through conventional attractiveness rather than thematic communication. But themed fashion operates more like a visual interpretation. A strange silhouette, exaggerated makeup, or unconventional tailoring may actually succeed more than a safe, elegant dress if it better expresses the concept.
The same tension increasingly exists at the AMVCA (happening on May 9 this year) in Nigeria. The AMVCA red carpet has evolved from simple celebrity dressing into a cultural performance space where fashion houses, stylists, designers, and public figures compete through image-making. Nigerian fashion culture is particularly expressive because it sits at the intersection of glamour, heritage, spectacle, and social aspiration.
At the AMVCA, “best dressed” often goes to celebrities who balance three things: originality, craftsmanship, and cultural presence. Designers like Veekee James, Swanky Jerry’s styling collaborations, and couture-focused Nigerian ateliers have shifted expectations. Audiences now expect drama, sculptural tailoring, beadwork, architectural gele styling, embroidery, and references to African aesthetics presented at a global standard. A successful AMVCA look usually feels memorable without losing elegance at all. However, the downside is that many people confuse extravagance with excellence. Bigger is not automatically better. More crystals, larger headpieces, or exaggerated trains do not necessarily create a strong fashion moment. Sometimes “worst dressed” at the AMVCA refers to over-styling — when the look contains too many competing ideas without cohesion.
There is also a recurring problem of costume versus fashion. In both the Met Gala and AMVCA, some celebrities misunderstand theatrical dressing and end up looking like they are wearing a stage prop rather than inhabiting a fashion concept. The difference is subtle but important. Strong thematic fashion still preserves proportion, tailoring, movement, and identity. It should amplify the wearer, not consume them entirely. Lol. Do you even understand? Another overlooked factor in “best dressed” conversations is authenticity. The strongest looks usually feel emotionally connected to the person wearing them. When the audience senses discomfort, imitation, or trend-chasing, the outfit weakens regardless of technical quality. Fashion succeeds when the wearer appears to believe in the story they are telling.
No thanks to social media, which has complicated these conversations further. Online audiences increasingly judge fashion through meme culture and virality rather than design literacy. An outfit may trend because it is shocking, not because it is well executed. This creates a disconnect between professional fashion criticism and public opinion. Critics may celebrate conceptual tailoring while the internet mocks it for being “too weird.” Take a cue from Rihanna's current ''predicament''. Yet fashion events like these remain culturally significant precisely because they force these debates. They reveal how fashion operates beyond clothing as identity, performance, politics, aspiration, art, and cultural negotiation.
Ultimately, “best dressed” should mean: strongest interpretation, clearest point of view, excellent execution, and memorable storytelling. And “worst dressed” should not simply mean unattractive. It often means: uninspired, disconnected from the theme, poorly styled, overdone, or lacking conviction. So, the real measure of themed fashion is not whether the audience would personally wear it. The question is whether the outfit successfully communicates an idea while remaining visually compelling. That is the standard by which the Met Gala has long operated, and increasingly, events like the AMVCA are demanding the same sophistication from African fashion culture.
