My Five Favorite Looks From The Lagerfeld-themed Met Gala

A few nights ago, some of the world’s most popular celebrities took the red carpet at the well-known Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City at the “Met Gala,” a charity event that directly raises funds for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute.

After seeing many of my favorite celebrities and their chosen 2023 fashion looks, I decided to compile a list of my five favorite looks and tell you why.

It’s important to understand the context first of why A-list celebrities decided to wear what they did. This year’s Met Gala theme was honoring the late designer Karl Lagerfeld with “A Line of Beauty.” The famous designer passed away in 2019, leaving a significant legacy, especially among top fashion houses Balmain, Patou, and Chloé, and Chanel.

Karl Lagerfeld is most known for his revitalization of Chanel; once he joined the team, he helped regain its position as one of the top fashion houses ever. In fact, the iconic double C interlocking logo we all know as Chanel, was Karl Lagerfeld’s idea in 1983 during his role of Chanel’s Creative Director.

Now that we know more about who this year’s theme was honoring, let’s talk about my five favorite looks of the night.

My Top Five

Nicole Kidman

Nicole Kidman did not disappoint the fashion world when she stepped out onto the carpet. As a matter of fact, I’d even argue that she was the most on-theme guest of the Met Gala. In honor of the Karl Lagerfeld theme, Kidman wore a look she wore originally in a No. 5 Chanel perfume commercial in 2004, custom designed, of course, by Lagerfeld himself.

This dress is my favorite Met Gala fashion look out of them all because of not only the elegance but its sustainability. I, along with the rest of the world, would have never guessed that this dress is nearly 20 years old. The silky pink tule combined with ostrich feathers and sequins perfectly encapsulates the beauty of fashion trends in the early 2000s, even still in the 2023 fashion era. It also proves how high-quality investments can be worn time and time again.

Olivia Wilde

As a close second, Olivia Wilde’s look adequately paid homage to the late fashion designer by showing up with a beautiful dress designed by Chloé’s current designer, Gabriela Hearst. To allow the dress to remain obviously inspired by Lagerfeld, the team chose to leave the majority of the key elements of the iconic design–the violin-shaped front covered in sparkles. However, to modernize the look and fit in with 2023 fashion by making it more fitting for the gala, Hearst, Chloé’s current designer, changed the color scheme and length. I personally love this change! It completely transforms the dress and takes it to a whole new level of Met Gala fashion that Olivia Wilde looked made for.

Margaret Zhang

By default, Margaret Zhang, editor-in-chief of Vogue China, takes the spot at number 3 since she and Wilde showed up wearing similar fashion looks. According to the Evening Standard UK, this is the first time this has ever happened at the Met Gala. I love the two completely different fashion takes on the dress, though. On one side, Olivia Wilde took a light, 2023 fashion and modern approach by completely changing the colors to bright whites and golds, while Margaret Zhang kept the classic black look and even added a long cape to it. It helps each woman unleash their personality with fashion, even while it may be easy at an event like this to fit in with your peers on the red carpet.

Michaela Coel

Wow. Michaela Coel completely turned heads at this year’s 2023 fashion red carpet. Being known from The Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, you would expect nothing less from this well-known actress. Her look was covered in sparkle as she walked across the carpet wearing over 100,000 crystals and stones. I love the simple glam makeup look with another simple up-do hairstyle to draw the audience’s attention to the dress fully. It is the perfect example of what you’d expect to see with Met Gala fashion. She also paid her respects to Lagerfeld in an amazing way with eye-catching crystals and contrasting star shapes. Although the late designer did not create this dress, Coel’s team did a great job of pulling 2023 fashion trends like chunky jewelry and combining it with Lagerfeld’s classic touches.

Lizzo

This is my personal favorite fashion look of Lizzo’s! As a classic inspiration from Audrey Hepburn, Lizzo perfectly encapsulates the timeless, charming, and graceful look from the iconic ‘60s old Hollywood era. The layering arrangement of pearls on top of the elegant black Chanel gown is everything the Met Gala needed to honor the late Chanel designer properly!

Out of all five looks that I have picked as my fashion favorites, I must say, there were plenty more that could have made this list. The vintage Met Gala fashion looks of the night mixed with plenty of modern-day trends were truly something to get excited about. As I look back on previous Met Gala fashion themes and looks, I would consider this year’s to be a great idea, and I’m not sure how it will be topped next year. I love the idea of going with a fashion designer theme instead of ones like last year’s theme of “In America: An Anthology of Fashion.” Although it does raise the chances of two celebrities arriving in a similar dress like what happened Monday night, I love the way themes honor one specific fashion designer and hope to see that again in the next few years.