AP Research

The concept of fashion has evolved from a utility-based invention to protect the human form from our surroundings (in nomadic times), to indicators of status (in medieval times), and more recently, a form of art and expression. One of the most celebrated annual fashion events in the modern era is the MET gala, hosted by Anna Wintour, editor in chief of Vogue Magazine, every year at the New York Metropolitan Museum for art. I aim to uncover what makes certain MET gala outfits more popular in the public eye than others. Social media has become a large part of fashion, inducing trends and revealing public consensus. Using the instagram account @themetgalaoffical, which has amassed almost 600k followers, I conduct a sentiment analysis of comments, likes, and shares of posts of different celebrity outfits. Each celebrity is compared to themselves, meaning I compare different annual MET outfits of the same person in an attempt to uncover the root of fashionability based on each individual image (examining for things like silhouettes, color ratios, and textures of outfits, as well as other factors like sustainability), controlling for the popularity of each individual celebrity. The general attractiveness/success of an outfit is based on each post’s comment section. Through this research, I hope to provide a basis for future MET gala attendees to achieve success in their fashion choices.