Written by Tristan Fischer

May 5th

It’s Tuesday morning and we are just waking up from the biggest night in arts. Some are still out and about rocking frocks, mini skirts and carpet steps worthy outfits to the afterparties, some of which seem to last until sunrise and beyond. The air is filled with a feeling of inspiration and joy.

It happened.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art threw open its doors for its annual benefit, and this year, it had something to prove.

This Year’s theme was “Fashion is Art” with the dress code celebrating “costume art” which reflects on the widely speculated question as old as the runway itself. Is fashion art? This Gala has proven to us that it is indeed. The theme explores the “centrality of the human body”. Showcasing over 400 works of absolute mastery next to their artwork inspiration. Pairing artifacts centuries apart, connected through their meaning and inspiration. All of these pieces are to be showcased in the brand new and redesigned Condé M. Nast Costume Institute galleries right off the legendary entrance hall of the MET museum. These galleries, inaugurated just hours before the gala, open to the public from May 10th.

Opening the new exhibition curated by Andrew Bolton and his team. The Met benefit took place as it does yearly on the first Monday in May. Where guests had the task or project, as model Gigi Hadid said so well in an interview for Vogue, to create and showcase a look around the theme which as we will see, left a lot to the interpretation. From paintings materialized into seams and yards of chiffon to naked dressing and solid statuesque creations, the carpet was dazzled in a myriad of colors, sequins and grandeur.

First to take the steps, for her 6th Met Gala as a Vogue carpet correspondent, Emma Chamberlain wore what we may call the best look of the night. Unbeatable, she arrived in a Mugler dress by Castro Freitas made out of hundreds of layers of hand painted chiffon and a bodice painted with thick brushes of yellows and pale greens by the talented hands of artist Anna Deller-Yee. The dress turned Emma into a living canvas with her inspirations sourced from her favorite works such as, The Scream by Edvard Munch, The Starry Night and Garden at Arles by Van Gogh.

Inspired by surrealism and impressionism paintings, she tells Vogue in an interview how growing up in a very artistic household where her father Michael Chamberlain, painted every day, directed this project towards her finding comfort in art, aquarelles and paintings. The dress showcases streaks of vivid color, going from yellow and flowing into a gradient of greens, reds, purples and blues which gave Emma an out of this world, ethereal silhouette. Reminiscent of Mugler’s legendary pieces, The Chimera dress and The Butterfly dress. A whirlwind of color, poetry and emotion as she set a bar the carpet would spend the rest of the night reaching for.

The carpet that followed was a procession of references, each look a brushstroke in its own right. With many looks inspired by Klimt, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh and more. Starting with Gracie Abrams dressed in a gold embroidered and gem encrusted Chanel gown by Matthieu Blazy.

Inspired by two famous Klimt paintings, The Kiss and Portrait Of Adele Bloch-Bauer. The dress’s golden embroidered bodice trickled threads of gold down onto the soft beige train the same way light falls down through light clouds. Paired with a soft and slightly dark make-up with a soft red, almost brown lip that accentuated her fair features, embodying the striking and unmistakable image of a Klimt painting.

Hunter Schafer also appeared on the steps in a ravishing white Prada look. The look, a white empire-waist gown with a line of rosettes embroidered just under the bust and tear-like gashes from which a beautiful light blue, flowery fabric poured out. Paired with a soft and chic hairstyle and a blue bow. Hunter’s dress was sewn straight out of another of Klimt’s paintings, Mäda Primavesi. Embodying its beauty and childlike innocence with a twist of camp.

We could also find, among them, Angela Bassett in a draping peony pink dress with cascading flowers inspired by Laura Wheeler Waring’s painting, Girl in a Pink Dress. Her pleated and draped corset lined with crystal-like flowers opened into a skirt made of thousands of intricately sewn strands of pink beads flowing over the carpet.

And Paloma Elsesser looked absolutely striking in a hand painted gown incorporating a long train and bust of delicate pastel fabrics and embroidered beads and flowers all over, all tied together with strong streaks of paint which created this artistic playfulness and elegance the theme longed for.

This gown was the work of her friend Francesco Risso, as part of his new project “Bureau of Imagination”. Paloma also wore one of her ears bedazzled in silver sequins which added a touch of edge and surrealism.

So many gowns born from the light of these legends’ brushes, brushing the soft cream carpet of the Met.

Outside of paintings, a major inspiration for the guests was the body itself. Sculpted into corseted armor, draped in rivers of fabric, photographed mid-movement like a figure caught between painting and life. Some guests arrived as moving sculptures, among them, multiple guests wearing the sculptural designs of Robert Wun. The long history of art that has always begun and ended with the human form, its artistry and its divinity. Through sculpture, movement, photography and film, the body lives as fashion's oldest and most intimate canvas.

Now if the question was: Is fashion art? the carpet answered with each bead, each yard, each train and each step, a resounding and breathtaking yes. What follows is the evidence.

Kendall draped the carpet in a layered sheer gown by Zac Posen for Gap. The Gown inspired directly from the famous Winged Victory statue of Samothrace. The representation of the greek goddess Nike on the prow of a ship, celebrating new discovery and naval victory. Layered in almost sheer white fabric, Zac Posen jokes, in a Vogue interview on the carpet, he ripped his white T-shirt off in the studio and started draping it across the model. The wings were kept as a secret reveal only to be uncovered once inside the oh-so confidential event.

Sisters even on the carpet, Kylie and Kendall Jenner both got inspired by renowned statues. In a similar color palette, Kylie wore a gown composed of a skin colored corset molded to her body and showing accentuated features. The bottom part of the gown took the shape of a falling dress made out of pearl and crystal embroidered silk draping down into an infinite train. The details of the corseting on the back of both pieces accentuated the whole look. Paired with a set of bold diamond earrings and a matching necklace, Kylie also decided to make her brows disappear. The look is inspired by the half dressed Venus de Milo, an antique greek statue of whom the arms and head are missing. Goddess of love, beauty, fertility, sex, desire, and victory. Tying in to her sister’s look.

Sabrina's look was a pure ode to the golden age of Hollywood and the art of the musical. She wore an absolutely spectacular gown by Jonathan Anderson for Dior, molded and sewn from the celluloid strips of the 1954 classic that shares her name. The voluminous back bustle cascaded down onto the steps in individual strands of film over an elegant, sheer and crystal-embroidered underskirt. The whole look was tied together by strands of jewels draping from her shoulders to her hands and a sumptuous headpiece perched atop her rolled and pinned hair, taken straight out of late 1930s Hollywood. From the tips of her platform heels, Sabrina wove the seventh art, cinema, into her show-stopping look, proving once again that all arts truly intersect on the Met carpet.

And that was not all. Sabrina happened to be the evening's secret performer, taking the stage with Stevie Nicks by her side. For the performance she wore two looks, an ankle-length Versace gown with crystal embroidery showcasing Andy Warhol's silkscreen prints of Marilyn Monroe and James Dean, tying back to old Hollywood and legendary glamour, and a fringed golden dress by the iconic Bob Mackie.

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Madonna surprised on the Met steps in a Saint Laurent slip dress crafted from satin and lace, topped with a scene-stealing cape and a towering hat adorned with an elaborate black ship, its sails draping around her face and flowing down into the translucent violet organza cape. That cape was carried in a semi-circle by seven models dressed in elegant silk gowns of different pastel shades, their eyes softly veiled by matching sheer ribbons. The look was sealed with a golden circular trumpet, a long black wig and towering platform heels. A breathtaking reference to Bedtime Story, a painting by the Surrealist painter Leonora Carrington.

Rosé graced the carpet in a custom Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello and styled by Law Roach The dress, an elegant draped black, was adorned by a bird which has served of inspiration multiple times to Yves saint Laurent across his life. This bird is taken from a beautiful painting by George Braque, The Birds. An elegant way to bring Arts and fashion history onto the Met Steps.

Gwendoline Christie chose to wear her craft for the evening, dressed by her long time friend and partner Giles Deacon in a look that was a deeply personal homage to three artists who have shaped her creative world. The first, Madame Yevonde, the celebrated British surrealist photographer whose vivid, dreamlike work from the 1930s and 40s has long fascinated Christie. The second, New York poet, publisher and photographer Ira Cohen, whose layered, otherworldly photography inspired the strips of fabric that seem to fly across the dress. And finally John Singer Sargent, whose elegance and grace found their way into the classical, refined cut of the gown itself. To this she added a dimension of performance art with a towering feathered headpiece and a custom face mask created by artist Gillian Wearing cast and painted from her own face, bringing art, theatre and camp onto the carpet in the way only Gwendoline Christie can.

Another Spotlight on our best dressed star of the Met Gala, Emma chamberlain. Incorporating not only her fabulous gown but also her shortened interview look which remains just as poetic and breathtakingly chic. Paired with hand painted to match, t strap, open toed heels.
Photos: Getty Images

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Alex Consani stepped onto the carpet last night as the first transgender woman ever to host the Met Gala. For this historic ascent of the steps she chose a Gucci gown by Demna, its sheer corset blooming into a gradient of black feathers and embroidered sequins that flowed into an infinite train, channeling the dual inspiration of Swan Lake and Botticelli's Primavera. The look was designed to feel like armor, like stepping into a role she tells Vogue. A way for Alex to reclaim ownership over a body so often scrutinized and pulled apart in the public eye. And she made an entrance to match, arriving wrapped in a giant white cape which she shed the moment she stepped onto the carpet, transforming from white swan into her most powerful, iconic self.

Adut Akech wore a gown carrying the sweetest message of life. Created by Thom Browne, the look paired an organza bodysuit cut to move with the model's ever-changing body, with a taffeta dramatic overcoat, the entire surface adorned in delicate black embroidery cascading from the shoulders all the way down the draped train. The most tender detail lived at her stomach, where Browne embroidered pale pink Lily of the Valley flowers, the birth flower of May. A look that was, in every sense, the embodiment of art, love and life.

Jennie embodied sculptural glamour in a luminous custom Chanel column gown drenched in shimmering blue sequins that gave the illusion of liquid metal under the lights. The sculpted bustier was covered in 15,000 embroidered sequin leaves and took over 540 hours to create, transforming Jennie into what she described as “a mosaic artwork come to life.” Paired with delicate Chanel high jewelry and a sleek vintage-inspired beauty look, the outfit perfectly blended classic Chanel elegance with modern surreal glamour.

Doechii wore a dramatic custom burgundy look by Marc Jacobs. A fluid, sculptural draped gown paired with an oversized matching head wrap in multiple fabrics of burgundy shades, crystal-like nails, and no shoes, giving her an almost goddess-like presence on the carpet. The look embraced a dark, feminine energy while blending vulnerability and surrealism, with Doechii explaining that going barefoot symbolized feeling human, feminine, grounded, and exposed in the middle of such theatrical fashion.

Cardi B wore a surreal custom look by the one and only Marc Jacobs, an exaggerated black lace gown with dramatic sculptural proportions, oversized ruffled sleeves, layered embroidery, and towering platform boots that transformed her silhouette into a living piece of art. The look was inspired by German artist Hans Bellmer, specifically his photographic collection The Doll, which featured photographs of the modular and dismembered dolls he constructed in 1933 in Berlin, blending surrealism, distortion, and the human form into one hauntingly theatrical fashion moment.

Rachel Zegler stepped through history in a look referencing Paul Delaroche's masterpiece The Execution of Lady Jane Grey. The dress, a white taffeta mermaid gown with a long train draped from the hips, was accentuated by a slightly open corset and off the shoulder draped straps, the look sealed with a white ribbon tied delicately around her eyes, designed by Jennifer Behr. A testament to history, life and the power of performance through fashion, the whole look was by Atelier Prabal Gurung.

The French Vocalist attended her first Met Gala in a look created by Harris Reed. The Black gown was draped around a bronze beaded corset to showcase her figure into the theme of the sculptural body. She paired it with a voluminous headpiece, its long antennae evoking something between an insect and a crown, in the signature Harris Reed Style. She finished the look with geometrical diamond earrings and black gloves. Giving her a theatrical, tailored look.

So many steps, so many masterpieces, and so many answers to the same beautiful question. These were the ones that moved us most. But the carpet was long and every look told its own story. Which one told yours? Let us know on instagram, and find every look from the night right here.

See Every Look From This Years MET Gala

The First Monday in May

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The First Monday in May

Limelight moment

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