Met Gala Guests Take Artistic Liberties With Dress Code

From Beyoncé to Naomi Osaka to Emma Chamberlain, Met Gala guests took it easy for the Met Gala this year, presenting custom artwork in honor of the “Fashion is Art” dress code.

Beyoncé left her cowboy hat at home and dazzled for “Queen Bey” in a custom Olivier Rousteing sculptural skeleton gown with a cream and powder blue feathered train, accessorized with a diamond tiara. The award-winning artist and his parents, Jay-Z and Blue, stopped to pose together on the carpet.

Osaka stunned as she left The Mark Hotel for the Gala in a dramatic Robert Wun white sculptural gown with exaggerated shoulders, adorned with red feathers and a matching headpiece. To complete her dramatic look, Osaka’s hands were dipped in dripping red paint. A similar appearance by Wun is featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute’s “Art of Costume” exhibit.

On the Met steps, Osaka opened her dress and took off her headpiece, revealing a gorgeous underneath. She wowed in a chic red beaded dress embellished with her body form.

Chamberlain arrived in a stunning Mugler hand-painted gown by Miguel Castro Freita. The star was clad in rainbow colors, from her decollete to the spiral train of her body-hugging dress, with tassels extending to the cuffs of the long-sleeved dress.

In the face of all the fanfare surrounding “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” Met Gala Co-chair Anna Wintour opted for a cool mint suit rather than the trendy sky blue of the first film. Wintour’s look consisted of a feathered cape and a beaded dress by Matthieu Blazy for Chanel, classically paired with Chanel’s signature bob and oversized sunglasses.

The other co-chairs of the night, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams, preferred simpler looks. Williams wore a sparkling black off-the-shoulder gown with dazzling jewels in an homage to a painting by Robert Pruitt for the National Portrait Gallery. Event sponsor Lauren Sánchez Bezos arrived in a form-fitting Schiaparelli dress and told Vogue she was inspired by John Singer Sargent’s 1884 painting “Madame X.”

Artistic references When guests weren’t wearing artwork, they were referencing it. US Vogue’s Editorial Content Officer, Chloe Malle, wore an apricot orange Colleen Allen dress inspired by Sir Frederic Leighton’s “Flaming June” painting. Actor and author Lena Dunham collaborated with Valentino designer Alessandro Michele on her red feathered gown to depict her rendition of “Judith Slaying Holofernes.” Dunham told Vogue that when she was a child, she visited the Met museum on Sundays and was amazed by the paintings in the renaissance section.

“One of my favorite painters from that period is Artemisia Gentileschi, who was one of the few women painting professionally at that time,” she told Vogue. “I sent some footage to Alessandro, and because he’s a genius, instead of dressing me like him, he said: ‘You’re actually blood spatter because… Judith is cutting a man’s neck.’”

Stars also celebrated the dress code with their accessories. Actor and fashion muse Gwendoline Christie playfully covers her face with a mask of her own face on the carpet, while pop star Katy Perry opens and closes her fencing-like mask on the carpet to smile for the cameras.

Venus Williams wasn’t the only guest who broke the fourth wall by making an artistic reference to herself. Trends for the night were gala host committee members Amy Sherald wearing a look inspired by Thom Browne’s own artwork and pop star Sabrina Carpenter wearing a Dior gown designed with movie strips from the 1954 movie “Sabrina.”

Some of the guests, who turned fashion into a canvas, revealed their artistic side by turning their dresses into works of art. TikTok followers watched Jessica Kayll, who designs colorful silk dresses, dye her dress in the days before the premiere. Kayll painted her own rendition of the famous Monet water lily scene right above her gala gown.

While her “Devil Wears Prada 2” castmates kept it in classic black, Anne Hathaway stood out in her signature Michael Kors Grecian-inspired strapless gown, hand-painted with a dove of peace.

“She is the goddess of peace,” Kors told Vogue.

Dressed body Rather than wearing artwork, the models showed off their shapely bodies as part of the “Costume Art” exhibition’s theme celebrating artistic representations of the body. Supermodels Gigi Hadid and Irina Shayk showed remarkable looks on the carpet.

Bad Bunny wore a full costume, carrying a cane and dressing as an older version of himself, with gray hair and costume makeup that would give him wrinkles. The artist joked to Vogue magazine that it took 53 years to complete the look. Supermodel Heidi Klum, known for taking her Halloween costume to new heights, made the same commitment to the Met Gala, where she arrived as a draped statue.

Kim Kardashian, known for her body-hugging fashion choices, wore a bright orange metallic body plate from the ’60s designed by Allen Jones.

Unlike last year’s blue carpet, this year’s carpet looked like it had been deliberately forgotten over time, with grass creeping up the stairs. The carpet was dotted with overgrown patches of grass peeking out from the stone steps, well-tended shrubs lining the side railings, and white wisteria hanging from the roof. At the entrance of the carpet, there were potted purple flowers in large terracotta pots.

Past Gala dress codes have honored designers and distanced them from literature. Last year, the art of tailoring was at the forefront with the “Special for You” dress code. The high-profile event raises money for the Met’s Costume Institute, and each year the gala’s dress code takes cues from the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition.

The “Art of Costume” exhibition, on display this spring, will “examine the centrality of the dressed body.”

The relationship between fashion and art has not always been embraced. Art historian and author Nancy Hall-Duncan writes in her book “Art X Fashion: Fashion Inspired by Art” that in the 19th century, art was perceived as classical and fashion was meaningless.

When Yves Saint Laurent organized the Met’s first fashion exhibition in 1983, the exhibition was met with heavy criticism. Since then, the museum has staged numerous fashion exhibitions over the years, followed by museums around the world. The Louvre’s first fashion exhibition, “Louvre couture”, opened last year.

Hall-Duncan told the Associated Press that the dress code set by Wintour and Met Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton was the final stamp of approval that fashion is art.

“Isn’t this a big step?” he said. “It will really change perceptions.”

How to watch the Met Gala carpet and celebrity appearances Didn’t snag one of the pricey tickets or your spot on the ultra-exclusive guest list?

Everyone will be able to watch the red carpet show online via Vogue livestream. Ashley Graham, La La Anthony and Cara Delevingne will host the livestream starting at 6 p.m., and Emma Chamberlain will interview guests throughout the night.

Starting at 4:30 p.m., the Associated Press will broadcast live coverage on APNews.com and YouTube of celebrities leaving a pair of New York hotels en route to the premiere. This is the first chance to see what attendees will wear before they hit the gala carpet.