This year’s Met Gala had very mixed reviews because of the theme honoring Karl Lagerfeld, a former fashion designer who passed away in 2019. The theme is a line of Lagerfeld’s original designs and sketches numbering over 150. Past Met Gala’s have had very broad and non-specific themes, giving the attendees room to be creative and have different interpretations. But this year was very much the opposite, and with Lagerfeld being the theme of the Gala, it didn’t give attendees a whole lot of room to think outside of the box with their ensembles. Even with that in mind there were still some stunning outfits throughout the night. 

A lot of people have recently spoken out about the controversial fashion designer and have shown their distaste about making him the theme for this year. Lagerfeld has done some very controversial things over the course of his career and many have spoken out about his harmful past. Many people are upset that celebrities were attending the event and supporting Lagerfeld’s cruel actions and hateful speech. Some people were even calling out women who consider themselves to be feminists who attended the event and throwing shade at them for honoring a man who has been known for his bigotry and hateful comments towards plus size bodies, saying this isn’t uplifting women in any way shape or form and that they can’t be considered feminists for honoring him. 

While I understood the level of concern from an outside perspective, there were also many celebs that were aware of Lagerfeld’s past and as a way of protest, took some of his iconic looks and made a statement protesting his hateful speech. Lizzo wore a custom Chanel, pearl embellished gown, with pearl accessories and black leather boots. In an Instagram post, Lizzo posted a photo of her eating McDonalds fries and while wearing the custom Chanel dress, which was a dig at Lagerfeld’s past comments on plus sized bodies. It is also widely known that Lagerfeld hated the color pink and some celebrities were rocking that color on the carpet. Viola Davis, Quannah Chasinghorse, Ashley Graham, and Sydney Sweeney were just some of the celebrities wearing pink to the Met Gala and were absolutely show stopping while doing it. 

Some of my favorite looks overall from the night were, Cardi B in Chenpeng Studio; She looked absolutely stunning and I loved the reference to Lagerfeld’s iconic suits that he would wear throughout his career while also making it feminine by adding a full length black skirt to her ensemble. Jenna Ortega in Thom Browne and Marli Jewelry; This look was quite popular on the internet and I totally agree. Similar to Cardi B, Ortega paid homage to Lagerfeld by wearing an outfit that represented his suits while making it her own. Pedro Pascal in Valentino; There was a lot of negative reviews with Pascal’s look and I personally disagree. Pascal sports a red trench coat with black shorts and a red dress shirt with a black tie. This is a very unique way of honoring Lagerfeld and let’s face it, red is definitely Pascal’s color. The color looks amazing on him and he definitely lit up the carpet in the best way possible.  Anne Hathaway in Versace and Bulgari; This look took the internet by storm. I loved everything about this, Hathaway looked like a goddess in this gown. The white dress with the gold accented pins cutting down the front was such a creative and beautiful sight to look at. 

Overall, I could go on and on about my favorite looks from the Met Gala, but there were also very questionable looks as well. One of them being Doja Cat in Oscar De La Renta; This look paid homage to Lagerfeld’s cat and the singer decided to use prosthetics to make her face appear as if she was a cat. This was a very unusual site to see but she wasn’t the only one sporting a cat look on the carpet. Jared Leto as Choupette; This was another look paying homage to Lagrefeld’s cat and he quite literally had people purring with curiosity over this look. Leto sported a full costume of Lagerfeld’s cat Choupette. I honestly never get disappointed with both Doja Cat and Jared Leto’s looks so I actually thought this was the perfect way to honor the late fashion designer. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the 2023 Met Gala and loved the looks showcased at this event. Even though the theme was not something that I myself and other people enjoyed, the event was still unique and interesting as ever. If you haven’t already, I would definitely check out some of the outfits that I didn’t mention and see what you think about them!