Lil Nas X MET Gala Outfit and Medieval Knight Armor

After a lockdown year in 2020 which had the MET Gala held more like a challenge on social media, 2021 brought a year where people could gather again. And this great fashion event brought a fashion steal by a male figure in the person of Lil Nas X. The world has evolved with many more exposure, men are accepting more choices as it regards everything including fashion. This exposure is what made Lil Nas X’s fashion work with Donatella Versace a big fashion statement at the MET Gala.

For people who do not know Donatella Versace; she is the younger sister of the founder of the world known Italian designer fashion brand; “Versace”. On the death of Gianni Versace, Donatella inherited the brand and has remained the lead creative director of the brand since its takeover by American investors.

Donatella is Italian and among many things that Italy has is a really good history of Italian Army. So incorporating a warfare design philosophy and ideas into a pop culture design was not hard. However, instead of using ancient Italian design ideas, she and her team opted for an English Knight Armor design.

A typical English Knight Armor is made up of three basic piece which are: The inner chain dress set which could be a jump suit or a regular shirt, trousers and pair of boots; a metallic plate armor and finally, a cloak. All these well blended in the creation of Lil Nas X’s Outfit.

The design which is characterized by the fusion of Versace yellow and gold colours to Typical English Knight Design is arguably the best dress of the event and cold be ranked with Guo Pei’s works with Rihanna at previous MET Gala events.

THE CLOAK

The first piece of fashion that Donatella and Lil Nas X showed to the world is the Cloak. In ancient times, Soldiers wore cloaks to protect themselves from the adverse effect of the temperate climate. Hence a Cloak which is also a part of the general fashion in Europe was used by English Knight too.

Donatella and her team of Designers and tailors used this cloak design idea to create a really nice cloak made off Rayon fabric with hand stitched gold and diamond beads. What they did was remove the peasant look which most cloak wears had in medieval times and replaced it with royalty. Hence designing a cloak that would have been rocked by a King or a Queen if this was the medieval times.

THE PLATE ARMOR

In medieval times metallic steel was used by blacksmiths to design a proper body cover against deadly weapons like spears and arrows. This plate armor were made up of shoulder and arm plates, breast plates, shoe plates shin guards etc. This above Plate Armor idea was used by Donatella and her team to create a gold plate Armor which Lil Nas X unveiled as his second dress.

THE CHAIN DRESS

The third and the last piece of clothing that Lil Nas X and Donatella unveiled to the world is the jumpsuit made of bright colored gold beads stitched to a dark colored background fabric. This has close relation to the chain dress rocked by English soldiers and Knights in the medieval times. This chain dress was made of light metal chain to serve as the last line of defense for the Knight during battles. It reduces the effect of a sword, spear or arrow which was lucky enough to pass through the plate armor.

The only difference between Donatella’s Design and Ancient design is: ancient designs where made to be loose and of copper or steel; but her design was made of gold and was well fitted to suit the fashion of today.