Sarah Jessica Parker’s Met Gala Headdress: Tribute or Ridicule?

Sarah Jessica Parker’s headdress a tribute or ridicule of the Chinese culture?

Sarah Jessica Parker’s red headdress worn on the night of the Met Gala on Monday was the most made fun of item on the internet recently. The headdress was compared to   flaming Q-tip, flame emoji, Sideshow Bob from the show ‘The Simpsons’ and Aku from the cartoon show ‘Samurai Jack’. The headdress generated the most memes on the social media next to Rihanna yellow cape gown. 

SJP whispers. X, Sj #ChinaThroughTheLookingGlass

A photo posted by SJP (@sarahjessicaparker) on /4/4, 2015 at 1:23pm PDT

The best description of the gown came from People’s magazine which compared the headdress to a pop culture Rorschach test. The theme at the 2015 Met Gala was ‘China: Through the Looking Glass’ and the headdress worn by SJP although tried to be related to the Chinese culture did it come out to be offensive.

@bravoandy/Met Gala = standing date. Dress designed by me in collaboration with @hm. Headpiece by @philiptreacy. Custom @sjpcollection shoes. Jewelry by #fredleighton, @jfisherjewelry and @cindychao_artjewel. Bag by @fendi. @bravoandy in @ralphlauren. X, Sj #ChinaThroughTheLookingGlass

A photo posted by SJP (@sarahjessicaparker) on /4/4, 2015 at 3:43pm PDT

The headdress was designed by the designer Philip Treacy as a tribute to Chinese culture even though the designer is not known for her work on the Chinese culture. Although Chinese culture is filled with taste full costumes that can be worn on the red carpet but Geisha styles costumes also exist which are not essentially Chinese. 

Although earlier fashion bloggers praised SJP for her choice but the social media butchered the headdress look with funny memes. Fashion critics applauded the ‘Sex and the City’ actress for having pulled off the headdress look and even praised her fashion sense in contrast to past events.

But when it came to common people the headdress was simply deemed ridiculous and not a major fashion statement as the memes started going viral. 

‘Til next year… Thanks to @philiptreacy, @hm, @sergenormant, @leslielopezmakeupartist, @erinwalshnyc, the great #LarsNord and studio, @jfisherjewelry, @cindychao_artjewel, and everyone at #FredLeighton. Head to toe, soup to nuts, all of you. X, Sj #ChinaThroughTheLookingGlass

A photo posted by SJP (@sarahjessicaparker) on /4/4, 2015 at 8:11pm PDT

As it turns out the headdress was inspired from a very weird combo the ‘phoenix crowns’ worn traditionally by the brides in the Chinese culture and the 2008 Beijing Olympics mascot. The headdress was supposed to pay tribute to both the symbols but fell flat as a joke on the internet.