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An international array of trendsetting celebrities from the worlds of fashion, entertainment and business honored controversial fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld at the Met Gala in New York on Monday, heralding the May 5 opening of the exhibition “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. The annual gala helps fund the Costume Institute and highlight significant issues in fashion and culture.
The gala has also become a kind of celebrity haute couture show, where of-the-moment changemakers model statement ensembles that illustrate the theme. This year’s international co-chairs included Vogue editor in chief and gala mastermind Anna Wintour, actor and writer Michaela Coel, actor Penélope Cruz, tennis player Roger Federer and singer-songwriter Dua Lipa. Past themes have addressed the influence of China, Catholicism, machines, punk, superheroes, cubism and other designers such as Alexander McQueen, Elsa Schiaparelli, Christian Dior and Rei Kawakubo.
Lagerfeld’s career, which spanned six decades and helped define the look of Chanel, Fendi, Chloé, Balmain, Patou and his eponymous label, Karl Lagerfeld, provided guests plenty of source material to draw from. Here are some of our favorite looks from the 2023 edition.
The annual fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute has become the fashion event of the year. Here’s what to expect.
Janelle Monáe, like Karl Lagerfeld, made black and white her fashion uniform, but on the Met Gala carpet, she went for a Thom Browne Chanel-esque coat that she whipped off to reveal a sheer hoop skirt and a tiny bikini beneath.
(Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images)
Men have started to wear pearls as a way to erase the gender binary, but on Taika Waititi, pearls plus a camelia also signify an ode to Chanel’s signatures.
(Evan Agostini/Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Bad Bunny’s custom backless white suit coat by Jacquemus with a fabulous long taffeta train edged in fabric roses makes a case for a new kind of men’s bridal wear.
(Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
In a vintage Chanel bridal gown, Penelope Cruz invokes her Spanish heritage with a mantilla-style veil that has been traditionally worn during Catholic church services.
(Evan Agostini/Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Historians may credit Vamp, Chanel’s 1994 deep red-black nail polish color, for starting the vivid nail art trend. Singer Rita Ora nods to the continuation of that trend with nails that drip strands of Chanel-inspired pearls and chains.
(John Shearer/WireImage)
Author and model Emily Ratajkowski exemplifies two of Lagerfeld’s signatures in her Tory Burch gown: linear structure and romantic flow.
(John Shearer/WireImage)
Lagerfeld often embraced a touch of surrealism, which Met Gala co-chair Michaela Coel honors in a heavily embellished gown by Schiaparelli, one of the original surrealists of high fashion.
(Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/)
Singer Phoebe Bridgers wears a black gown with pearls edging her silhouette, a look that she says was inspired by Tory Burch’s latest collection, skeletons and Lagerfeld.
(Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
Honoring the tradition of ending a fashion show with a bridal gown, Dua Lipa arrives at the Met Gala wearing a vintage bridal gown from Chanel’s 1992 autumn/winter haute couture collection.
(Evan Agostini/Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
La La Anthony wore a custom Sergio Hudson one-shoulder, white mermaid gown embellished with a cascade of Chanel-like chains — and striking cat-eye glasses.
(ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade wear monochromatic Prada ensembles that mimic the signatures Lagerfeld often embraced in his own wardrobe — leather, black and strict tailoring.
(Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Karl Lagerfeld)
When your event is one of the biggest in fashion, Gisele Bündchen knows to go with one of the biggest looks, here a beaded white column gown with enormous ostrich-feather cape from the Chanel Couture spring 2007 collection.
(Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Someone has to wear the de rigueur “naked dress” at a big fashion event and this time, it’s Amanda Seyfried in an Oscar de la Renta dress featuring a cascade of beads over a flesh-toned mini that she said makes her feels beautiful.
(Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
As one of the original supermodels, Naomi Campbell attends her 16th Met Gala in a look from the Chanel spring 2010 couture collection, a luscious pink toga wrapped across a richly embellished top that signifies her status a a goddess.
(John Shearer/WireImage)
Quinta Brunson’s homage to Lagerfeld included a single white camelia corsage on her dusty pink satin gown overlaid with black silk tulle by Atelier Prabal Gurung.
(Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Wrapped in pink Fendi couture, Gwendoline Christie illustrates the fabulous draping technique that distinguished Fendi.
(Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
With a double-C Chanel logo belt buckle as a bit of bling, Kristen Stewart wears a black and white suit look from the 2016-17 cruise collection.
(Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Karl Lagerfeld)
Wearing her signature slip dress that helped make her an icon of the ‘90s, Kate Moss, right, revives the look in a Fendi couture spring 2023 bespoke look and a 1997 Tiffany & Co. diamond choker necklace, while her daughter Lila Grace Moss wears a gown of marabou feathers made to look like fur.
(Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
When your name is Doja Cat, you can ask the house of Oscar de la Renta to make your ensemble, while you honor Lagerfeld and his beloved Persian cat by wearing cat face prosthetics, nails and ears.
(John Shearer/WireImage)
Making fashion a second skin, Lil Nas X masks his face and coats his body and thong with silver paint, pearls, rhinestones and glitter to become a living jewel.
(Matt Winkelmeyer/MG23/Getty Images for The Met Museum/)
Lily Collins literally wears Karl Lagerfeld, spelled out in glittery embellishment on her Vera Wang gown’s train.
(Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/)
(John Shearer/WireImage)
There are plenty of Lagerfeld signatures in Glenn Close’s sequined Erdem gown, including a white high collar, and cuffs, a Maltese cross and a silhouette inspired by a 1999 Chanel couture look.
(Evan Agostini/Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Kim Kardashian had designer Daniel Roseberry of Schiaparelli create her semi-nude ensemble that consists mostly of cascades of nearly 50,000 real freshwater pearls and 16,000 crystals, a look the house says required 1,00 hours of handwork. Her jeweled high choker necklace mimics a Lagerfeld signature.
(Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/)
Sydney Sweeney wears an embellished Miu Miu gown.
(Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
Known for her embrace of vivid colors, Viola Davis made a distinctive entrance in fuchsia and feathers by Valentino.
(Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
Ralph Lauren gave Jennifer Lopez a minimalist interpretation of Chanel with a wrap halter top and train in black, and a sleek pink skirt and veiled fascinator hat.
(Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum)
Lagerfeld himself gave Tommy Hilfiger the high-collared, button up the back shirt that he wore with a jacket made from vintage Chanel fabric. Dee Ocleppo wears a Chanel-inspired gown with a bib-front and pearl-encrusted gloves.
(Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
With silvery hair as a nod to Lagerfeld, model Cara Delevingne turned his signature bib-front white shirt into a mini dress/cape combo and accessorized with his beloved fingerless gloves and Chrome Hearts jewelry.
(Cindy Ord/MG23/Getty Images for The Met Museum/)
Erykah Badu worked with Marni designer Francesco Risso to create her fringed wig and dress, strung with Chanel-style beads. The singer has a new fashion collaboration with the designer brand, BADU for Marni.
(Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
Inspired by Lagerfeld’s experimental use of materials at Fendi, Christina Ricci paid homage to that craft with a sleek and silvery top and skirt that is woven with metallic thread and then scanned for a trompe l’oeil effect of light and shadow.
(Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
Florence Pugh has been making the most of a daring, punk rock look at big events lately and her close-shaved head brought the grit to the gala.
(Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Alton Mason said he wanted to honor his distinction as the first Black male model to walk for the house of Chanel, so he paid tribute to the Chanel bride in his take that included lace-appliqued leggings, corset, veil and a broad-shouldered bolero that bared his pecs.
(Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
Filling the stairs with your enormous, elaborate train is a look sure to “win” the gala sweepstakes. This year, Jeremy Pope trudged up the stairs, attendants in tow, trailing a gigantic, fuzzy train by Balmain woven with the image of Lagerfeld’s face. It required 70 seamstresses and 5,000 meters of silk chiffon.
(Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
Margot Robbie has become a fashion icon in her own right as she makes the rounds of red carpets year after year. For the Met Gala, she stepped into the shoes, or rather gown, of another fashion icon, Cindy Crawford, who wore the Chanel one-shoulder black gown with a sheer bodice in 1993.
(Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
Pedro Pascal managed to be shocking by pairing black shorts and tall boots with an otherwise elegant Valentino red coat and shirt, but it read more like Valentino than Lagerfeld.
(John Shearer/WireImage)
Lagerfeld kept embroiderers busy and his sense of whimsy intact. He famously embroidered a violin on a classic dress from Chloe’s spring 1983 collection. Chloe designer Gabriela Hearst reworked the look with vintage ivory silk for actress Olivia Wilde.
(Evan Agostini/Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Rihanna can always be counted on for an eye-catching Met Gala look.
(Evan Agostini/Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
