Gigi Hadid wore Givenchy in black with feathers, a drop waist and sheer train in tulle. It took more than 300 hours to make. Kendall Jenner was also in black, sans pants. She wore a sparkly leotard with long sleeves that has pieces doubling as a train. On her feet were kinky, towering black boots, all courtesy of Marc Jacobs.
Jenner’s high white collar was a nod to those worn by Lagerfeld. Her hair was in a high ponytail.
Rita Ora was also in black, a stunner of a peekaboo sheer look from Prabal Gurung. It was silk tulle with corset detailing and sexy draping in chiffon. One shoulder was dropped.
Margot Robbie, who stars in this summer’s Barbie live-action film, wore a 1993 Chanel gown in black that Cindy Crawford first wore on a runway. Robbie said she was the last Chanel ambassador to be handpicked by Lagerfeld.
“I feel really great in it. It’s an honour,” she said.
The invitation-only gala earned US$17.4 million last year for the museum’s Costume Institute, a self-funding department with a budget dependent on the A-list affair. The price of attending went up this year to US$300,000 for a table and US$50,000 for a single ticket.
The guests from fashion, film, music, theatre, sports, tech and social media were asked to dress “in honour of Karl” by gala mastermind Anna Wintour, a close Lagerfeld friend who first signed on to the event in 1995 and took over the helm in 1999.
The party, which fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert thought up back in 1948, coincides with the Costume Institute’s blockbuster spring exhibition: “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty”.
American fashion was last year’s vibe. It followed gilded glamour and white tie. Camp was the theme in 2019, producing what is considered one of the wackiest displays of dress by the celebrity crowd.
Lagerfeld worked for Chanel, Fendi, Chloé, Jean Patou, Balmain, his own brand and more.
This year’s five hosts include Wintour, as usual, and also Michaela Coel, longtime Chanel ambassador Penélope Cruz, and recently retired tennis superstar Roger Federer.
Cruz looked like a bride with a sheer hood on her white Chanel belted gown with silver details from spring/summer couture collection in 1988.
Asked how he got to be a Met Gala co-chair, Federer said it helps to know Wintour. He said it makes sense for athletes to be at the gala because they’ve become a bigger part of the fashion world in recent years.
“I think the sports people have gotten more and more fashionable,” Federer told the AP. “We’re fortunate to get onto covers much more frequently nowadays. Before it was always the models, the good-looking people, not the athletes.”
Fendi, where Lagerfeld worked for more than 20 years, was also represented. Suki Waterhouse wore a 2019 Fendi design by Lagerfeld in silk tulle and delicate flowers and birds on sheer panels.
Abbott Elementary creator Quinta Brunson knows her fashion and studied up before this, her first Met Gala. The writer-actor said her dress was inspired by a piece in a Lagerfeld 1992 collection, while her hair inspiration came from one of his 2003 shows.
Asked how she felt about attending her first Met Gala, Brunson said, “I’m just speechless. I’m just really happy to be here.”
Lagerfeld’s cat, Choupette, had been rumoured to attend but her humans posted on Instagram earlier in the day the 11-year-old feline was staying put in Paris. Doja Cat’s cat-eared hood on a sparkling white and silver-beaded dress was an ode by Oscar de la Renta. She wore prosthetics that gave her a feline face and claws.
Chloe Fineman carried a cat-shaped bag and Emma Chamberlain wore “Choupette blue”, a light blue hue created by Lagerfeld. James Corden also showed up in the shade.
As for Leto, he swapped out his cat costume for a black caped look.
