At the Met Gala in New York City last night, celebrities pulled out all the stops to honor the late designer Karl Lagerfeld, the focus of the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty.”
Among the A-Listers in attendance, trends included a focus on florals (such as Chanel’s classic camellia) and fans (an accessory favored by Lagerfeld), as well as riffs on suiting, tweed and a classic black-and-white color palette. There was also a series of increasingly elaborate trains coating the red carpet — each serving as a fashion moment and a shrewd sartorial move, perhaps, by guaranteeing their wearer space to breathe (and pose!) among their peers.
Actor Jeremy Pope (pictured above) had perhaps the most notable and on-theme trains — his custom Balmain cape, which featured Lagerfeld’s profile in black and white, swept the floor at 10 meters (nearly 33 feet) long, according to the fashion house’s Instagram. The garment necessitated more than 5,000 meters (over 16,400 feet) of silk chiffon and 70 seamstresses.
Arriving fashionably late, Rihanna closed out the red carpet in a silky white custom Valentino gown that served as a homage to the bridal looks that often closed out Lagerfeld’s Chanel shows. The look, according to Valentino’s Instagram, included a 5-meter (16.4-foot) train and silk faille cape with 30 camellia flowers.
Honoring Lagerfeld’s personal style and vintage Chanel corsets, “Wednesday” star Jenna Ortega’s custom Thom Browne look highlighted “disrupted precision and deconstructed tailoring,” according to a press release.
Ortega wore a cropped black chiffon tweed jacket with a matching coat draped over a black beaded tulle mini pannier skirt. The jacket and skirt were also embroidered with gold bullion and pearl chains.
Glenn Close, meanwhile, stunned in a sequined Erdem Eau de Nil gown. Erdem Moralioglu, creative director of the brand, designed the dress with Lagerfeld in mind: The crystal embroidery was inspired by the haphazardly-draped jewelry featured in Lagerfeld’s first Haute Couture show for Chanel in 1983, according to Erdem’s Instagram.
The floor-spanning cape was influenced by model Devon Aoki’s look in a subsequent couture show from 1999. And the collar and cuffs were odes to Lagerfeld’s signature look.
Rita Ora and Gigi Hadid donned similar dark and sultry looks for the event. Ora wore an Atelier Prabal Gurung black silk tulle gown that featured a long chiffon skirt with multiple hand-embroidered silk organza and satin flowers — and accessorizing with foot-long chains attached to her nails. Hadid’s Givenchy by Matthew Williams gown was “inspired by some of Karl’s favorite things,” Williams said during Vogue’s livestream from the carpet, citing fans and florals.
“Karl was always looking forward and not so nostalgic, so we wanted to make something new and also that spoke to the craftsmanship of the Atelier Givenchy,” Williams added.
And Florence Pugh debuted both a new buzz cut hairdo and a custom Valentino gown. “For the event, the face of the Maison … made her entrance in a white silk taffeta backless dress with a black silk chiffon bow detail, designed especially for her using 64 meters of silk,” the house said in an Instagram post. “To go along with the look, Florence wore a Valentino black feather crown.”
CNN’s Scottie Andrew contributed to this report.
