Priyanka Chopra: The many meanings of that Met Gala dress
- Published
The trench coat dress with an exaggerated train, has captured India's imagination
The Met Gala usually draws little interest in India, but this year actress Priyanka Chopra's appearance in a vast detective trench coat outfit has inspired jokes, memes and even profound symbolic interpretations.
The Ralph Lauren outfit was in keeping with the theme of this year's ball, an homage to Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo, and won fashion plaudits from the moment she glided up the stairs.
There have been close to 16,000 tweets just about Chopra, which means the country has been tweeting about her pretty much since waking up.
This looks like fashion but...
... is it really an advertisement for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet "clean India" movement, locally known as Swacch Bharat Abhiyan? Because obviously the dress would be a highly effective cleaning mechanism.
This seems to be by far the most popular theory around her dress and what it means. Some people have even tweeted directly to the prime minister, asking him to appoint her as an official "ambassador" for the project.
The movement has used celebrities including cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan as ambassadors before, so as theories go it isn't too far off!
It could also have a deeper meaning.
We're just going to let this tweet speak for itself.
Let's not forget how stunning she looked though
The verdict in both India and the US is near unanimous - Priyanka Chopra simply won in that dress.
Elle Magazine called the dress "FANCY", US Magazine declared that "Priyanka Chopra slayed" and Time Out New York picked her as one of its 10 best "favourite looks" at the Met Gala.
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The press reactions in India have run along similar lines. The Times of India newspaper said that she "swept away the competition" while the Deccan Chronicle said she "looked like a princess".
The sentiment on Twitter was not too far off.
Still, here come the memes!
Some reports say that this is the world's longest trench coat - and with material like that up for grabs, it's an opportunity too good for any photoshop enthusiast worth his/her salt. It is unclear at time of writing if Guinness World Records have been contacted.
