The Met Gala is an annual fundraising event for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York City. The event is known for its extravagant red-carpet fashion, as attendees are expected to dress according to a specific theme chosen by the museum each year. The event is attended by numerous celebrities, fashion designers, and other notable figures, and has become a major cultural event and a highlight of the fashion industry calendar. The 2023 Met Gala theme was slightly (largely) problematic as it was Karl Lagerfeld. If you don’t know who that is, he was a German designer who is known for working with many brands but mostly known for his creative director work with Chanel. From 1983 to the day he died he worked as the creative director for Chanel and basically revived the brand. However, during life he was largely problematic. He was fatphobic for example, via saying that anorexia was not a big deal, that curvy women did not need to be on the internet, and, he said that Adele and Heidi Klum were too heavy and much more. He was also racist, xenophobic, and Islamophobic. Overall, a very polarising person, especially as he was comfortable with sharing these opinions in live interviews. As a result, when he was chosen as this year’s theme for the Met Gala people were obviously very upset, but they wanted to respect his work. So, let’s talk about everything that happened in 2023’s Met Gala.
First, Serena Williams announced her pregnancy. This is her second pregnancy and she put a lot of effort to incorporate and emphasise that aspect of her body in her clothing while still being on theme. She was not the only person to announce her pregnancy with Carly Clous also announcing her pregnancy. Ice Spice was this year’s surprise invite to the Met Gala because she is such a new creator in the industry. With lots of controversy regarding her worthiness of such recognition with her few (subjective) song hits critics and fans suggest that Lana Del Ray, Harry Styles, SZA or Oprah should have been invited instead of Ice Spice. Robert Pattinson and Sukie Waterhouse arrived together displaying their intimacy thus turning the event into a fashionable date night. Bringing this on and off relationship since the Batman actor and the Daisy Jones & The Six Star actor first ignited relationship rumours in 2018 on people’s radars.
Jared Leto made his appearance as cosplaying a human-size white cat. If you’re
unaware Karl Lagerfeld had a white cat that he absolutely adored and so Jared Leto
wanted to pay homage to this cat.
Paying Homage to Lagerfield’s Cat
Lil Nas X wore body jewellery, underwear and addon cat facial features like whiskers and claws as well as imitating Lagerfeld’s cat through full body spray paint. His flashy body jewellery suited the theme as Karl Lagerfeld was known for his contemporary interpretations under Chanel of his textured, bouclé and tweed woven clothing – this was emphasised upon by Dua Lipa. She directly demonstrated Lagerfeld’s work through wearing a 1992 archival Chanel dress worn by Lagerfeld’s long-time muse, Claudia Schiffer in the haute couture fall-winter (autumn/fall) 1992 collection.
Additionally, Dua Lipa, Anne Hathaway, Gisele Bündchen, Bad Bunny, Paris Hilton and Cardi B were all critic and fan chosen fashion favourites/stars of the event.
Doja Cat got a prosthetic nose as part of her makeup that made her nose look like a cat’s, adding to this idea with accompanying ears and claws – she was also paying homage to Lagerfeld’s cat. Interviews circulating social media have shown Lil Nas X’s and Doja Cat’s dedication to their roles, with them both responding to some interviews with cat noises (meowing, hissing, purring etc.). Critics have shown their opinions on Doja Cat’s more finessed look and the fact that Doja Cat being a cat… is more suited for the role due to the similarities of each’s labelled personas.
On a more serious note, Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian publicly reunited since their breakup, all fully documented on Kim Kardashian’s show.
Lizzo created an archival look based on one of the old Chanel pieces and Paris Hilton made her debut Met Gala attendance with Marc Jacobs. Fans were surprised when she did not oppose Karl Lagerfeld’s opposition to pink with her outfit choice as the colour theme of pink has become synonymous with her character. She instead opted for an on theme but basic (fans and critics have called) look as seen below.
Met Gala Cockroach
There was a cockroach that was walking the Met Gala, and Variety jokingly confirmed that someone stepped on it. Photographers and reporters, all snapped photos and videos of the cockroach that made its exclusive, invite only Met Gala affair debut among the stars, and the moment went viral with supporters editing elaborate gowns onto the body of the cockroach, creating visual edits to show its supremacy over Dua Lipa, Anne Hathaway, Gigi Hadid, Anok Yai and Sydney Sweeney, stating how it was ‘the best dressed in the history of the Met Gala’ many TikTok edits creator’s stated (of course, all in a satire manner).
Olivia Wilde and Margaret Zhang wore two identical dresses in different colour choices. The dresses called violin dresses due to a clear violin shaped centre of the dress with openings around the stomach further delineating the violin shaped curves. This is a clue to how Anna Wintour judges what items of clothing are accepted to be worn to the event as all clothing must be approved by her prior to the person entering the carpet walk and it is interesting that she would approve two of the same gowns.
Conan Gray’s outfit had high attention to detail with glamorous, flashy accessories, colouring choices of the floor length cape with other facial details. Fans of other celebrities and critics also strongly suggested their opinions of other celebrities that should have taken his spot. This identical to Ice Spice’s hate and list of celebrity replacements.
Fans of Emma Chamberlain and Jack Harlow were excited, after the duo doing another interview together with seemingly no repercussions after last year’s debacle where Jack said, “I love you, bye” and Emma responded with a weird, grossed-out face.
Rihanna and A$AP Rocky were one of the last people to arrive (again). But their fashion choices did not concern fans. There is a hotel where a lot of the celebrities stayed at for the event, and the celebrities for the event come in through a different entrance, so it is unknown specifically what happened but… A$AP Rocky climbed over a fence where a very large group of fans were standing, then pushed his hands on someone’s face all to get into the hotel in this sub-standard way.
Last on an overall basis, Florence Pugh shaved her head for her new movie ‘Dune: Part Two’ and showed off her transformation publicly on the carpet.
The Main Drama
More concerning events did occur, creating drama surrounding Kim and North (Kim’s daughter). If you are unaware, the Met Gala only allows those above the age of 18 to attend. This rule was instituted in 2018, so yes, in previous years there have been minors that have attended, however, Anna Wintour in 2018 did make that rule. This really meaning the rule being employed on the way to the Met Gala as well (as celebrities arrive at the event as soon as they step out of their vehicles). It’s largely seen as a negative for Anna Wintour for one to bring their child as it is one of the several unspoken rules as part of the numerous ways Anna has mentioned or indicated, that you can heighten your chances of not being reinvited. So, people are really upset with Kim Kardashian. If you didn’t know North (her child) is 9 years old. Kim’s team dressed her up to make her look a little bit older, but she is 9, she is really young. The night before the Met Gala North and Penelope (Kourtney Kardashian’s daughter) were staying at the same hotel that Kim Kardashian was, obviously, this all being normal. However, the day of the Met Gala, Kim Kardashian walked out with North to her transport to the event (this being abnormal for normal procedures of the event). This was on the way to the Met; so, they get into a car, they drive to the Gala, they get out of that car, and they walk on the carpet – it’s right there. So, people at first thought ‘oh, maybe she’s just driving along with her in the car. There’s a nanny in the car, the nanny will take her home and take care of her at the hotel.’ No – something out-of-the-norm, controversial happened.
When Kim went to walk the carpet, it’s unknown what happened, but North got out of the car with her. Again, minors are not allowed in during the Met. There was no nanny with her, none of Kim K.’s, Kylie Kardashian’s or Kendall Jenner’s team was with her – she was by herself standing outside. There have been a lot of rumours that sparked with this, many believe that Kim was trying to get North inside no matter what – and possibly do some super cool fling for press and such. Others are confused as to why no nanny had come. This is a highly secured area, so there are security guards for the Met around on guard, however, none of Kim’s team was present. Again, this is a 9-year-old child that did not need go through this. Many people have referenced from when Kanye West (Kim’s former husband & North’s father) stated that Kim would likely use her kids as props. We see more evidence of this, as Kim posted the image below, to her story the night before the Met and claims that North, the 9-year-old, planned and set up all of the decorations (balloons and all below) by herself without her parents knowing or any assistance from them. Sure.
