The Met Gala always settles on a few trends sooner or later. Headpieces and trains remain permanent residents of the best-dressed list. Beyoncé, for example, returned to the carpet after ten years in a headpiece bright enough to blind someone across the street, dragging a coat long enough to trip over from the exact same distance. Every year the dress code picks its favorites, and “Fashion Is Art” clearly had a thing for paintings. Still, the evening revealed a few more patterns along the way.
Built Around the Bust
The Kardashian family alone could’ve secured sculpted bodices and breastplates a top trend spot. Hailey Bieber, Yseult, and several others made sure of it too. And when nobody was busy 3D-printing nipples or reshaping bust lines, the body became a canvas instead. Chase Infinity leaned fully into paint, while Jeremy Pope achieved the same effect bead by bead.
Carved by the Gods
For a surprising number of designers, combining the Met, the body, and art led straight to Ancient Greece. Kendall Jenner, Laura Harrier, Elizabeth Debicki, and Desire Iglander looked exactly like the Greek goddesses I pictured back in third-grade mythology class. Heidi Klum, meanwhile, looked closer to something I’d eventually encounter at the Acropolis Museum. The statue silhouette is very real.
Leather Found the Men First
I saw men who needed a bit of shine to elevate their outfits turn to leather goods. The Internet saw “leather daddies,” a label justified by Luke Evans and his Tom of Finland fixation, then Patrick Schwarzenegger, Romeo Beckham, Bill Skarsgård and the rest of the pack opting for skin-like textures.
The Casual Crowd
The first casual moment I saw on the carpet belonged to Bhavitha Mandava, who wore a sheer zip-up and jeans that weren’t really jeans, and it immediately made sense. Mandava was reportedly scouted by Matthieu Blazy on the NYC subway, you can picture the outfit. Since then, she’s been reinterpreting looks on Chanel’s runway, and this one leaned into trompe-l’œil effects. This, I can gladly get behind. The rest, I’ll leave untouched, better not to disturb its relaxed nature.
Eyes on Pause
You can always look at the carpet’s outfits, not necessarily their eyes. Katy Perry most likely couldn’t see yours either. The singer arrived in a mirror mask, while Rachel Zegler referenced Paul Delaroche’s 1833 The Execution of Lady Jane Grey, using a bandage over the eyes. Jordan Roth wore a Robert Wun figure attached to her dress, covering one eye, while Sarah Paulson covered both with the help of a dollar bill.
