The Met Gala 2023 | CNN (2024)

A$AP Rocky and Rihanna at The Carlyle Hotel before the 2023 Met Gala: Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty on May 1, in New York City.

Talk about a dramatic entrance: Rihanna, a Met Gala mainstay, and her beau A$AP Rocky made it to the Met Gala about two hours after most attendees walked the cream carpet.

Rihanna first concealed her look under an opulent fur coat while Rocky paired a red tartan kilt with jeans, a suit jacket and a skinny tie (not to mention, a pair of opaque black sunglasses, which were an essential component of Lagerfeld’s daily uniform).

Rihanna attends The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1, in New York City.

And then finally, after the carpet had cleared, she appeared: In a silky white gown and hooded puffer jacket, Rihanna closed out the Met Gala.

In an homage to the models dressed as brides who often closed out Lagerfeld’s Chanel shows, Rihanna floated up the Met steps, her voluminous train flowing behind her. And ever the effortless cool girl, she completed the look with fingerless gloves and sunglasses with their own wispy lashes.

It was a fitting end to an event meant to honor one of the industry’s great provocateurs who often leaned into the high drama of fashion.

Ashley Graham attends The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1, in New York City.

Supermodel Ashley Graham brought exaggerated silhouettes, velvet and satin to the Met Gala carpet in honor of Karl Lagerfeld, this year’s theme.

The dress was designed by Harris Reed and was inspired by Lagerfeld’s work at Chanel in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the brand said. Reed specifically pointed to Lagerfeld’s ability to “bring a new life” to the Chanel brand, according to the statement.

The custom pink and black gown kept in mind Graham’s “renowned approach to empowerment and self acceptance,” the brand said.

Pedro Pascal attends The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1, in New York City.

“The Last of Us” stars Pedro Pascaland Bella Ramsey had unique takes on formal wear at the Met Gala on Monday night.

Pascal dressed in black shorts paired with a red shirt and a long, red coat. The actor walked down the carpet in a pair of black, military-style boots and black socks.

English actress Bella Ramsey arrives for the 2023 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1, in New York City.

Ramsey sported a black, decorated coat with matching pants and a skirt over top.

The hit HBO drama, based on the critically acclaimed video game of the same name, has been renewed for a second season.

Cardi B's Met Gala carpet appearance included an outfit change.

For Cardi B’s second Met Gala look, the star paid tribute to Karl Lagerfeld’s distinctive style with an elaborate black gown decorated with large rose details. She accessorized with a silver wig, pearl earrings and long black gloves.

The rapper’s first outfit of the night was a festive custom Miss Sohee gown, which featured a pink pleated tulle piece fanning out behind her head.

Devon Aoki attends The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1, in New York City.

Though she’s been a Chanel muse since the 2000s, actress and model Devon Aoki attended the Met Gala for the first time tonight in a custom look designed by Jeremy Scott. An off-the-shoulder black and white gown features wing detailing on the décolletage.

“(Lagerfeld’s) color palette is often restrained in black and white,” Scott said on Vogue’s livestream of the event.

Serena Williams and Karlie Kloss at the 2023 Met Gala in New York City.

TheMet Gala is an evening of style, glamour and… baby news.

In a pair of stylish debuts, tennis world champSerena Williams and supermodel and entrepreneurKarlie Kloss both stepped on to the red carpet on Monday sporting very special accessories: babies on the way.

“There’s three of us here,” Wiliams told La La Anthony during Vogue’s live red carpet show. The 23-time Grand Slam-winner went on to say “I’m good, I feel good now” and shared her relief that her secret was out. “I can stop hiding now,” she added.

Williamswed husband Alexis Ohanian in New Orleans in 2017 and they share one daughter together, 5-year-old Olympia Ohanian.

Adding to the family was always the plan for Williams, who shared in a2022 essay for Voguethat she planned to grow her family as she “evolved away from tennis.”

It seems as though that time has come nearly a year after her last tennis match.

Kloss, who shares one child with husbandJoshua Kushner, had earlier told Emma Chamberlain of her bump reveal that, “I’m so happy. This is the first time I am sharing my news. So, it’s very special.”

Chamberlain, who was also serving as one of the cohosts for Vogue’s red carpet livestream joked that Kloss was the “only one who got to sneak in a baby” to the notoriously exclusive event. “I know, I got a plus one. Don’t tell anybody!” Kloss responded.

The model donned a fitted black gown by Loewe adorned with draped strands of pearls.

Kushner, who is former White House aide Jared Kushner’s brother, and Klosswed in 2018 andwelcomed their son in March of 2021.

Bad Bunny attends The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1, in New York City.

Puerto Rico’s own Bad Bunny stopped the show in a tweed Jacquemus suit with a stole made of white roses draped around his elbows. The Grammy winner’s stole was longer than many of the trains on attendees’ gowns.

Bad Bunny’s outfit appeared relatively reserved from the front – until he turned around and revealed that the suit was backless. Label founder Simon Porte Jacquemus wore a similar suit in black, also backless.

Last year, the risk-taking musician made his Met Gala debut in a puffy-sleeved khaki Burberry dress that resembled the house’s famous trench coat.

Maya Penn and Stuart Vevers attend The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1, in New York City.

Instead of a typical celebrity, an environmental activist will be sporting a custom Coachtopia look designed by Coach creative director Stuart Vevers at the Met Gala red carpet this year.

Maya Penn founded a sustainable fashion brand, Maya’s Ideas, focused on creating “artisan crafted, accessories and clothing made from organic, recycled, and vintage materials,” according toits website.

Gabriella Karefa-Johnson will be the stylist for the look, Coach told CNN in an email.

“These two inspiring individuals, who are redefining American fashion for now, will both be the first to wear custom looks from the new circular Coachtopia brand,” Coach said.

Coachtopia recycles and reuses materials that would otherwise go to a landfill, the brand saidon its website.

Janelle Monáe attends The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1, in New York City.

Singer and actress Janelle Monáe added a purr-fect accessory to her Met Gala look — a purse with the likeness of Karl Lagerfeld’s beloved cat, Choupette.

She wore the white, plush cat purse as she walked the carpet.

Doja Cat’s hooded dress with glittering cat ears and feline facial prosthetics was another nod to Choupette on the carpet. Jared Leto also showed up in a full cat suit.

Choupette, who has her own Instagram account, posted earlier today that she was invited to walk the Met Gala carpet, but decided to stay home.

Alton Mason arrived at the Met Gala in a bride-inspired look.

Alton Mason, who in 2018 became the first Black male model to walk for Chanel, is wearing a white lace body-con bride look — complete with a long beaded veil — for tonight’s Met Gala.

Alek Wek, a female Sudanese British model, was the first Black model to be a Chanel bride in 2004.

Actor Ke Huy Quan has stunningly captured Lagerfeld's signature style.

With black shades, black leather fingerless gloves, and a charcoal gray pinstripe suit and tie, Oscar-winner Ke Huy Quan has thus far offered one of the evening’s best takes on Karl Lagerfeld’s personal aesthetic.

Designer Tommy Hilfiger also paid homage to Lagerfeld’s signature style. His Met Gala suit fabric is vintage Chanel and the shirt was gifted to him by Lagerfeld, Hilfiger said on Vogue’s livestream of the gala.

Other tributes to Lagerfeld’s sartorial preferences include Jessica Chastain’s shades, Leon Lai Yi’s studded trench suit jacket, Simu Liu’s black gloves and tie adorned with a silver brooch, and Cara Delevingne’s black fingerless gloves and silver shag hairstyle. Teyana Taylor’s Thom Browne outfit, a metallic spin on a tweed suit dress, also honors the iconic designer’s style of dress.

Simu Liu's black gloves and tie adorned with a silver brooch pay homage to the iconic designer.

Brittney and Cherelle Griner attend The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1, in New York City.

Brittney Griner, the professional basketball player who was detained in Russia, and her wife said being able to attend the Met Gala together is bigger than just fashion.

Griner was released in a prisoner swap that involved Russian arms dealerViktor Bout in December. Griner’s arrest in Russia sparked diplomatic drama between the US and the Kremlin that played out alongsideRussia’s war in Ukraine.

Brittney Griner highlighted the Bring Our Families Home campaigns she said helped her and her wife while she was detained in Russia. The organization works to raise attention to Americans detained overseas, its website says.

“Every day just being there, being a voice for those families so they’re not feeling left behind or forgotten at all,” she added.

The couple wore Calvin Klein as they walked the carpet.

Florence Pugh attends The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1, in New York City.

Florence Pugh rocked a buzzcut and towering feathered headpiece on the Met Gala’s red carpet, flanked by Valentino head Pierpaolo Piccioli.

Pugh, the latest face of the Italian fashion house, wore a strapless white gown with an oversized black bow at the bustline (a nod to Lagerfeld’s love of the singular color palette) and a train so long it gave the actress a solo moment on the bottom of the Met stairs.

The Oscar nominee hasn’t shied from taking risks with her hair before: She gave herself a haircut on camera for her recent film “A Good Person.”

Jared Leto arrived at the Met Gala dressed as Karl Lagerfeld's cat, Choupette.

Met Gala regular Jared Leto arrived to the red carpet incognito — dressed like the oversized mascot version of Lagerfeld’s beloved cat, Choupette.

Leto’s Choupette suit was covered in white fuzz not unlike Choupette’s enviable fur, and his hands and feet were enveloped in giant paws. He removed the costume’s massive head — a near-exact replica of Choupette, compete with striking blue eyes — to reveal himself on the red carpet after mingling anonymously with celebrities.

Leto shed the cat suit to expose an all-black look.

He eventually shed the Choupette costume halfway down the carpet to reveal an all-black ensemble, finished with a cape with studded shoulders.

Doja Cat’s Oscar de la Renta look, which included a hooded dress with glittering cat ears and feline facial prosthetics, was a slightly subtler nod to Choupette.

Kim Kardashian arrives at the Met Gala covered in pearls.

As a nod to Karl Lagerfeld’s penchant for pearls, Kim Kardashian and Lizzo’s Met Gala looks were drenched in them.

“I thought, ‘What is more Karl?’ You know, the iconic Chanel pearls is what I always thought of. So we wanted to just be dripping in pearls,” Kardashian said of her Schiaparelli ensemble on Vogue’s livestream of the event.

Numerous pearl necklaces laid atop a tan bra serve as Kardashian’s chest piece, with more strands of pearls functioning as a full-length skirt.

On Lizzo’s black sleeveless gown, long strands of pearls decorate her torso and dangle toward the floor.

Lizzo's look also gave a nod to the late designer's love of pearls.

Lil Nas X attends the 2023 Met Gala in New York City.

Lil Nas X brought the sparkle with his Met Gala arrival.

He showed up completely painted in silver, with rhinestones and pearls covering his face.

The rapper has stepped onto the Met Gala carpet in elaborate designs in years past —including an embroidered custom suit by Balmain in 2022 and three different looks by Versace in 2021 — and this year’s event is no exception.

Doja Cat attends The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1, in New York City.

Yes, that was Grammy winner Doja Cat slinking down the runway with glittering cat ears and a flat snout. Her glittering Oscar de la Renta gown was downright feline — and a fitting way to honor Lagerfeld.

With facial prosthetics, dramatic winged eyeliner and talon-like nails, Doja’s look was a couture homage to Choupette, Lagerfeld’s beloved Birman cat (who declined to attend tonight’s event). The rapper also punctuated her interview with La La Anthony on Vogue’s livestream with a few “meows.”

“SNL” actress Chloe Fineman also honored Choupette with a pink feline handbag by Judith Leiber.

Olivia Wilde and Margaret Zhang at the Met Gala on May 1 in New York City.

Filmmaker and actor Olivia Wilde arrived at tonight’s Met Gala in a white, floor-length recreation of the “violin” dress Karl Lagerfeld famously designed for Chloé’s Spring-Summer 1994 collection. The original knee-length dress was made in black with a gold violin-shaped panel and waist cutouts. (Wilde added oversize cuffs to her look.) It was later reissued in 2013 for the fashion house’s 60th anniversary, worn then by Chloë Sevigny.

Vogue China editor-in-chief Margaret Zhang also donned a reproduction of the Chloé piece, this time in the original color but with a train, embroidered with gold detailing to match the gown’s high neck. Zhang also added a cape to her version of Lagerfeld’s creation.

The original dress appeared in Lagerfeld’s final collection during his first stint at Chloé (before his return to the house in the ’90s). The garments were designed with a surrealist bent and outsized details in an homage to the “women who sew the clothes he and other designers envision.”

Andrew Bolton attends the Costume Institute's "Manus x Machina" exhibition press presentation at Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in February, 2016.

Andrew Bolton has been the curator behind some of the most successful shows at the Met’s Anna Wintour Costume Center in recent years. Bolton’s curatorial skills have enticed hordes of visitors through the museum’s doors to see blockbuster exhibitions including; “China: Through the Looking Glass” and “Manus x Machina: Fashion in the Age of Technology.”

In 2011, Bolton curated “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty,” an exceedingly popular exhibition of the late British designer’s work. The show was so popular that, according to a story in The New York Times, the museum stayed open until midnight for the first time in its history in an effort to accommodate crowds.

“People were moved by McQueen … He was called the ‘confessional poet’; he would use his shows as therapy sessions so it was all biographical. If you go through his work it was exactly what he was feeling at that moment in time. He used his work in that diaristic way, that cathartic way,” Bolton continued.

“I know it sounds disingenuous but it’s never about ticket sales. What I do try to do is come up with an idea that has resonance with an audience.”

A Mediterranean villa recreated in Le Grand Palais for Chanel's Spring-Summer 2019 Haute Couture show.

Artist and photographer Simon Procter’s distinctive approach to runway photography — shooting every conceivable angle before putting each photo together into one spectacular composite image — led to a close relationship with Chanel, and in particular, the brand’s late creative director, Karl Lagerfeld.

His 2019 book, “Lagerfeld: The Chanel Shows,” compiles 10 years of runway photography, displaying Procter’s style and the creative immensity of Lagerfeld’s shows.

Procter’s “own thing” often granted him almost unrivaled access to Lagerfeld’s vision. In his book, he describes securing a position within the photographer’s podium at Chanel’s Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2010 show, only for Lagerfeld himself to send for him and install him backstage.

Procter was granted rare backstage access during Chanel's Spring-Summer 2010 Haute Couture show.

There, he photographed the models as they prepared for, walked onto and departed from the runway, blending shots together to recreate the clamorous energy of the occasion.

Procter’s creative approach enabled him to elevate the shows he photographed beyond the constraints of reality, whether adding real NASA footage to photos of a Chanel-branded rocket or melding together countless shots of model Lily-Rose Depp and Lagerfeld into an impossible hall of mirrors.

“I had limited time, and sometimes you get put in a position with nothing to see,” Procter told CNN. “The idea to go away and achieve something? That’s the motivation as an artist.”

Click through to see more from Proctor’s “Lagerfeld: The Chanel Shows.”