The Met Gala is taking China by storm. At present, the number of Weibo page views has exceeded 220 million. What attracted domestic netizens to participate in this event?
what happened: The first Monday in May hosts one of the biggest fashion nights: the Met Gala. Officially known as the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Fundraising Gala, it’s an opportunity for world stars to outdo each other.
The 2022 Met Gala theme “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” celebrates the Gilded Age – a period of prosperity and development in the late 1700s. This is the second volume in a two-part series following the previous show, In America: A Dictionary of Fashion. Attendees included celebrity actress Michelle Yeoh in a green Prabal Gurung gown, supermodel Ho Kwang in a silver Michel Kors chiffon gown, and Chinese-American Olympian Elaine Jo in a Louis Vuitton Archive leather skirt. All in all, they get huge internet traffic in China for this: the Weibo hashtag #MetGalaredcarpet has garnered 1 billion views to date. Micheal Kors’ silver He Cong dress was loved by netizens, and judging from online comments, the American brand won the hearts of the Chinese that night.
Yi Jing: The lack of local celebrities continues to dampen the interest of netizens in major events in the West. Even the Oscars have failed to attract much audience. But just a few days ago, the announcement of local champion Elaine Joe’s participation greatly helped generate an impressive organic traffic. Despite his return to the US, the young gold medalist is clearly still popular (the #GuEileenMetGalaRedCarpet hashtag is currently trending on Weibo with over 300 million views). This created a pre-event buzz, which is where the Oscars and the like missed.
However, museums can do more to reach a wider audience on the mainland, especially if they are closed. In 2019, the Met Gala launched a campaign on Douyin that garnered 170 million views in 48 hours. This year, it’s live-streaming exclusively through Western digital platforms Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Where is the Chinese live streaming site? Continue reading full text here