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Fashion Meet Cute
Written By CaptainJojoPhotographed By OffBased
2024-05-06
Fashion fans, the time has come! At this year’s Met Gala I staged the greatest Fashion Meet Cute since Gold Roger and Silvers Rayleigh stripped naked twenty years ago and got dragged off the stairs and into the spotlight!
Newcomer Bon Clay (they/him) agreed to an interview on the Gold Carpet and I have all the juicy details from when their idol Emporio Ivankov (she/hAW) the Queen of Newkama Fashion crashed the interview!
Let me set the stage: Bon Clay showed up as part of Baroque Works’s “Utopia” collection with his dancewear debut, but since he’s moved on to Impel Down– spearheading their ‘Come My Way’ line– he’s become more of a main character than anyone could have anticipated!
He stepped onto the carpet in a magnificent swan feather tutu dress with matching jacket and struck his signature pose. But I didn’t snap the photo yet. You see, I already knew which direction Iva-sama would be coming from.
I held my position and graciously let others photograph Bon until the time was right.
I waited for my moment and BOOM: she arrived.
Emporio Ivankov is always a dominating presence, so when she swept onto the carpet in her Inazuma Brand dress with its oversized sleeves and the train made from flags of the countries that have overthrown the World Government; she was everything. I was so blown away I nearly missed when Bon noticed her! Psych! My camera trigger finger itched the exact moment Bon met Iva (below).
For those of you living at the bottom of the ocean or with your head in the clouds, two years ago Emporio Ivankov exited Impel Down amid suspicious circumstances. She left her entire fashion empire behind and moved back to where she was first discovered on Newkama Island. The fashion world was in an uproar until long-time-solo Bon Clay arrived at Impel Down’s Paradise HQ and picked up the mantle their idol sashayed away from!
Ivankov’s revolutionary style is missed of course, with its spectacular gender bending color, cuts, and silhouettes. The world lost a second icon when Inazuma exited with her.
But all was not lost! The power of dance compelled Bon Clay to bring their spectacular moves to Impel Down, reinvigorating the brand with pastels, nature motifs and an emphasis on dancewear.
Seeing two Queens meet in person was like watching a sunrise meet a sunset. Both so beautiful and so ambiguous! Their eyes met and the world fell away. They were alone, sizing each other up.
“Your outfit is giving me a stroke,” Ivankov told Bon, who gasped in shock. For a moment I thought it’d be a fight! But then Bon-chan’s falsetto nearly shattered the crystal chandeliers, as Ivankov yelled “NOT!” She really had us fooled! Bon was so overwhelmed he simply started pirouetting, his lovely couture feather collar floating around them. Together they were a Dance Revolution! This is what the Met Gala is all about!
Wealth? Fame? Power?
What is revolution if not a subversion of these things?
What is dance if not a celebration of them?
“Fashion is about revolution, daaahling,” Ivankov told Bon-chan as the two headed inside arm-in-arm.
“Dancing is my revolution,” Bon agreed, starry eyed, tears streaming mascara down his cheeks. “I’m happy to share it with the world!”
“They don’t deserve it!” Iva shrieked. She graced me with one last look over her shoulder. “But we give it to them anyway! Share your truth!”
And so they shall! Fashion revolutions keep the editorial machine going, and this dancewear revolution will launch a beautiful fashion friendship! Until next year, this is Pan D. Aman signing off!
