About the Contributor
Sage Gibson, Journalist
Sage is a senior. This is her third year in Journalism. She likes to go shopping and works at Dunkin Donuts. She hopes to work in a studio and do makeup...
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Metropolitan Museum
Fantastic Fashion Rules at the Met Gala
May 8, 2023
Fantastical fashion was the name of the day when the 2023 Met Gala was held on May 1 with the theme Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty. Lagerfeld was a German fashion designer who passed away in 2019, and this year’s exhibition was a tribute to his work, featuring 150 pieces of his work and his clothing sketches.
The Met Gala, also known as the Costume Institute benefit, or the Met Ball, is a charity event held at the Metropolitan Museum Of Art in New York City on the first Monday of May. Often dubbed the “Oscars of fashion,” the event, as noted by Harper’s Bazaar, “draws in the biggest A-list names, who dress according to a set theme, usually in bespoke creations from the world’s most impactful fashion designers.”
As in previous years, the event was an opportunity for many celebrities to strut their stuff and be seen. They were also able to honor Lagerfeld by interpreting his signature style and his associates, like his cat, Choupette Lagerfeld. Rapper Doja Cat actually dressed as Choupette, using facial prosthetics to enhance the cat nose and upper lip and adding sparkly cat ears and a fluffy tail. Actor Jared Leto also honored Lagerfeld’s feline by wearing a giant cat suit resembling Choupette.
Another common theme seen throughout the outfits was flowers. Lagerfeld did a collaboration with Chanel’s spring collection in 2008 using paper flowers as his inspiration. So this year’s Met Gala runway was lined with flowers draping throughout the venue. For example, Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny wore a custom Jacquemus white suit, having a train of paper flowers following behind attached at his wrists.
Wedding dresses were another Lagerfeld-inspired theme seen throughout the evening, with author Jill Kargman wearing her wedding dress Lagerfeld had designed when Kargman got married in 2002. the dress two decades ago and gave it as a gift to Kargman. She also has the original sketch of the gown framed in her living room.
The Met Gala’s co-host Dua Lipa wore an archived white-corseted Chanel wedding gown, a vintage dress rom the fall/winter 1972 Chanel collection. Lagerfeld designed it himself and it was worn originally by model Claudia Schiffer. Lipa topped off the outfit with a $10 million diamond necklace. As noted by VOGUE, “The original 128.54-carat yellow Tiffany diamond was found back in 1977 in South Africa’s Kimberley diamond mines, and it has since become one of Tiffany’s most famous pieces.”
Singer Rhianna combined the wedding dress and flower themes with a white Valentino gown. As noted by Sports Keeda, the silk faille dress and cape “featured 30 individual camelias, 25 leaves, and 500 petals. The gown was created by 30 seamstresses and featured a long 5-meter train.”
Other outfit highlights of the evenign including Alia Bhatt, who wore a ballgown wedding dress, designed by Prabal Gurung, with a plunging neckline front and back, a layered tulle skirt and train, and about 100,000 pearls. Actress Penelope Cruz’s ensemble included a dress inspired by Chanel’s 1988 spring couture collection, featuring a sheer white hood resembling a veil, a point neckline, a round, layered skirt embroidered with silver beading, and a white buckle belt to cinch her waist.
Overall, the fashion at the Met Gala was something that had to be seen to be believed, with some outfits being hits, and others being total misses. You can check out the looks and make your own decision about what worked and what didn’t at these links: