Ms. Met Gala 2023
REVIEW: Okay, recap time! For those that may not have followed last night's festivities as close as others, let’s get you up to speed. Yesterday was the 2023 Met Gala, an annual fundraising event for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC which attracts the most prestigious celebrities and their outfits. This year’s theme was entitled “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” which pays homage to the late Karl Lagerfeld, a trailblazing fashion designer (and quite controversial man for his fat-phobic views) who in his career worked for Fendi, Balmain and Chloé and most recognizably serving as the Creative Director of Chanel.
Guests who attend the Met Gala, which is always held on the first Monday in May, pay homage to each year’s theme by working with fashion’s most prestigious designers to curate a trailblazing look. Celebs and designers seem to silently compete against each other to have their looks win, aka public opinion and good press - nowadays in the form of social media praise! The Met Gala red carpet can be streamed at Vogue.com, however, once the red carpet ends, us outsiders take to social media to review looks because there are no phones or cameras allowed inside this Met event.
Karl is most recognzied for his time designing at Chanel, so I wasn’t surprised when I saw an abundance of black and white looks; as well as Chanel-esque suits, lots of tweed, and bows. I think Emma Chamberlain and Dua Lipa won the gold prize when it comes to honoring Karl via Chanel.
Many celebs also showed up recreating Karl’s personal style dressing in black suits with white shirts and a tie. Jared Leto, Doja Cat, and Lil Nas X even came honoring Karl’s living cat named, Choupette. Jared Leto took this role quite literally going for a furry cat suit, while Lil Nas X and Doja Cat glammed cat core up with rhinestones, glitter, and all things silver.
I personally never think a true Met Gala review can’t touch on Ms. Kim Kardashian’s look. Love her or hate her, this girl has proved herself to be quite the show stopper when it comes to Met Gala looks. Last year Kim wore a vintage Marilyn Monroe dress (the dress Marilyn sang “Happy Birthday” to JFK in). Lots of people were outraged that Kim wore the dress because of the damage done to a historical artifact. Luckily this year Kim did not show up in any vintage Chanel, rather she came in a gorgeous Schiaparelli dress made with 50,000 pearls and her hair in a sleek up-due. I loved the way the pearl’s draped, however, the bustier and bra were visibly noticeable making the dress look more lingerie than Lagerfeld imo (in my opinion).
As the red carpet coverage drew to a close, Rihanna was the last person who walked the carpet (running late proving that even superstars are human) and then cameras cut…until next year!
DATA ANALYSIS: Vogue reported that 53 million viewers watched their livestream raising $22 million dollars for the Met’s Costume Institute. Vogue Business noted that that “In the first two days following the Met Gala, Vogue’s social channels saw 12.3 billion impressions from the hashtag #metgala, up 30 per cent year-on-year. Globally, Vogue’s social channels garnered 114 million engagements, up 713 per cent from the year prior”. With the rise of digital video platforms like TikTok and livestream, audiences are able to connect with Met Gala attendees on a deeper level and follow along as they get ready, compared to historically only being able to see pictures posted online the days following.
The Met Gala is considered the fashion world’s Super Bowl, with only 62 million less viewers than the actual Super Bowl. Viewers seem to be very loyal because they are only allowed to watch the red carpet! So as each year progresses, the question is…will we ever see what happens beyond the red carpet on the first Monday in May?
