Hear Me Out: The Next Met Gala Theme Should Be Jovani
After the brand’s New York Fashion Week debut, I am, against all odds, feeling Jovani.
BeautyStyle

It’s New York Fashion Week! Chanel made a designer diner in Williamsburg; Mayor Eric Adams hosted a fête for “fashion folks” like Anna Wintour, Thom Browne, and Vera Wang at Gracie Mansion amidst backlash for his comments on the city’s “migrant crisis”; and each day, Getty teems with fresh photographic evidence that all of the culture’s It Girls are afoot and really fucking sweaty. But between the faux pas and forced photo ops though, one major brand made history.
On Friday, Jovani—the famed fashion house known to Real Housewives fans as something akin to a punchline, thanks to Countess Luann De Lesseps’ 2019 single, “Feelin’ Jovani”—made its NYFW debut after 40 years in business. The show convened a cortege of content creators, some reality stars with faces you recognize but names you can’t quite remember, and enough pageant girls to renew one’s empathy for Abigail Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine. There was also a champagne wall, a kaleidoscopic catwalk, and seated front row, the Countess, herself. For some reason, I was there to witness it all, and…dare I say it? It was kind of refreshing.
When quiet luxury reigns supreme and other NYFW runways like Proenza Schouler, Khaite, and Staud, presented little but clean lines, structured silhouettes, and neutral palates, that Jovani, in all of its campy glamour, hasn’t just stood firm in a fickle industry, but came out—in all its fuchsia feather capes, sparkly suits, and gravity-defying bows—blazing, is a radical act. Allow me to explain.