The moment has finally come. The most thrilling night in fashion – the Met Gala 2023 – is happening as we speak. This year’s theme pays tribute to Karl Lagerfeld–the man who, according to Andrew Bolton, curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, ‘created the identity of the fashion designer impresario’–while the exhibition will be called Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty. It opens to the public this Friday, 5 May, and will trace the late designer’s ‘stylistic vocabulary as it was expressed in ‘through lines’–aesthetic and conceptual themes that appear time and again–in his fashions from the 1950s to his final collection in 2019’.
Tonight’s red carpet wasn’t red at all but cream with curvaceous lines of red and blue (rather like the choice of ‘champagne’ at this year’s Oscars). For fans of vintage, there were plenty of head-turning moments. Case in point? Co-chair Dua Lipa wearing archive Chanel–a corseted tweed gown from a ’90s couture collection that was originally modelled by Claudia Schiffer–and a gigantic, never-before-seen diamond pendant from Tiffany & Co. Naomi Campbell followed suit, wearing a silver leaf and draped satin dress from Chanel SS10 Couture. Swoon. Nicole Kidman, meanwhile, made fans do a double take with her frosty pink frou-frou gown that she first wore in the iconic advert for Chanel No5.
Elsewhere, on the step-and-repeat, there were nods to corsages as well as Choupette, Karl Lagerfeld’s famous feline friend, who cropped up in the form of crystal-embellished minaudières (Chloe Fineman) and a purrfect gown involving a set of cat ears (Doja Cat). Keep scrolling to see all the best looks from the Met Gala 2023.
This article first appeared on GRAZIA Daily.