Ahead of one of the fashion industry’s biggest nights, The Met Gala, West Valley College Dean Shannon Mirabelli-Lopez sat down with NBC Bay Area for an insightful conversation about what it takes to present the event, a parade of dazzling celebrity fashion statements from the cutting-edge to the over-the-top. 
The Costume Institute Benefit, the gala’s official name, is one of the largest annual fundraisers for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is home to the institute. A one-time associate research curator for the Met’s Costume Institute, Mirabelli-Lopez, now dean of the WVC Bill and Leila Cilker School of Art and Design, brought a first-hand perspective to the proceedings, held May 5 at The Met in Manhattan.
“The party itself, as it should, looks effortless and beautiful and everyone’s enjoying themselves,” she said during the broadcast interview. “But the years of research and labor that go into mounting the exhibition is easily overlooked.”
Guests attending The Met Gala are invited to take inspiration from a dress code informed by the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition. For 2025, the exhibition, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” explores the importance of sartorial style to the formation of Black identities.
In her NBC Bay Area interview, Mirabelli-Lopez, dressed head-to-toe in a trademark black ensemble, discussed what motivated her move from the Met into higher education. Her overriding desire: look to fashion’s future, not its past.
“If I wanted to impact the fashion industry and art and design at large in terms of sustainability, in terms of diversity, you have to get in there when the students are being educated,” she observed. “They’re the ones who are going to impact the industry later.”
Before assuming the role of dean for SoAD, she previously served at some of the fashion industry’s leading art schools, including the Pratt Institute and Parsons School of Design, both in New York City.
The high price of obtaining an art and design education at top schools, however, disappointed Mirabelli-Lopez. When the opportunity arose to lead the SoAD at West Valley, she seized it, noting it’s the only community college she knows of with a school of art and design.
“I wanted to offer a world-class education specifically in fashion, which is my area (of expertise), at a price which makes it much more accessible and work to diversify the industry and impact it,” she said.
See the full interview at: NBC Bay Area