Dolce Magazine’s favourite looks of the night.
Fashion enthusiasts’ favourite night of the calendar year took place on the coveted steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City last evening on the first Monday in May to celebrate the 78th annual MET Gala. This year’s costume exhibit highlighted the theme “Fashion Is Art” pushing designers and their celebrity dates to new heights of creativity and artistic expression.
Many embraced this theme pushing boundaries and taking incredible references from historic works of art that can be found within the world-renowned institution. Celebrity Co-Chair and music icon Beyoncé shut down the carpet upon her arrival to the event alongside daughter Blue ivy carter and husband Jay-Z. Each year, the global gaze rises as cameras flash incessantly to capture the best looks of the evening and immortalize the arrivals of the evening’s most anticipated guests. The event raises millions of dollars to support the curation and preservation of the museum’s costume institute—a department responsible for its own funding with events like the gala serving as its main source of annual income. We watched closely to bring you our favourite looks of the night.
Here are Dolce’s top 15 looks of the evening:
- Beyoncé in a custom skeletal gown dripped in diamonds and glamour by Olivier Rousteing and Chopard.
2. Emma Chamberlain in custom Mugler. The hand-painted, second-skin dress referenced archival 1997 “Butterfly” designs and incorporated artistic nods to Vincent van Gogh and Edvard Munch.
3. Sabrina Carpenter wore a custom Dior gown by Jonathan Anderson accented by Chopard, made to look like “walking film memorabilia”, the look served as a direct homage to the 1954 classic film Sabrina, starring Audrey Hepburn.
4. Anok Yai becomes a living statue in custom Balenciaga inspired by the Mater Dolorosa (Mother of Sorrows).
5. Madonna references “The Temptation Of St. Anthony. Fragment II” by Leonora Carrington. In custom Saint Laurent and Codognato.
6. Natasha Poonawalla wears a Marc Quinn sculpted orchid and custom Dolce & Gabbana dress.
7. Heidi Klum transformed by Prosthetic artist Mike Marino into a surreal living goddess statue.
8. Janelle Monáe bends the natural and technological in custom Christian Siriano and Rainbow K.
9. Anne Hathaway in a hand-painted, one-of-a-kind Michael Kors Collection gown, designed in collaboration with American artist Peter McGough, accessorized by Bvglari.
10. Kim Kardashian is walking artwork in Allen Jones and Whitaker Malem. The structured, fetish-adjacent leatherwork draws from Jones’ provocative furniture sculptures, merging objectification, form, and high-gloss materiality.
11. Nicole Kidman wore a custom Chanel gown crafted by the house’s skillful atelier hands requiring 800 hours of work. Adorned by feathers all in a blazing red—an ode to both love and the Big Apple.
12. Blackpink singer Jennie stepped out in a beautiful custom Chanel gown adorned with 15,000 Sequins to celebrate the museum’s “Costume Art” exhibit.
13. Tate McRae wore a custom Ludovic de Saint Sernin gown for her first MET appearance. The dress referenced the gilded statues adorning La Reale, the ceremonial boat of Louis XIV, preserved today at the Musee national de la Marine in Paris.
14. Bad Bunny jokingly said his look took “53 years” to prepare for embodying a prosthetically aged version of himself in a custom Zara look.
15. Sam Smith donned a black Erté showgirl-inspired mermaid dress complete with a fuzzy collar and sleeves that took flight. The singer’s look was designed by their partner Christian Cowan, accented by a tall feathered headpiece to complete the look.
