arlier this year, on an overcast spring day in Manhattan, the fashion designer Raul Lopez stood inside a suite at the Plaza Hotel wearing black underwear, a waist-cinching pink corset, and a white plastic shopping bag over his head. He then slid into a black turtleneck and emerged a ghastly sight—the bag outlined his open mouth and nostrils, making him look like something out of a horror film. “You should go out like that,” an assistant joked. It was the first Monday of May, and Lopez was preparing for the Met Gala, the fund-raising party and giant media event hosted every year by the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute. He peeled off the bag and walked toward a mirror to confirm that it had done its job, keeping his gelled hair and light makeup intact. Satisfied, he exhaled.