This year’s Met Gala turned the red carpet into a living, breathing museum.
To celebrate the exhibition Costume Art, the theme “Fashion is Art” The MET invited guests to draw inspiration from centuries of artistic masterpieces. A night that felt less like a party, and more like an art history class.
While some opted for literal takes, I mean, look at Hunter Schafer embodying Gustav Klimt’s ‘Mäda Primavesi’ she portrait Klimt’s atmosphere with striking precision.
Others leaned into a more interpretive approach. Emma Chamberlain transformed herself into a canvas, wearing a dress that took 40 hours to paint using 30 base colours, followed by four days of drying. The piece designed by the Mugler team was inspired by the works of Vincent van Gogh and Edvard Munch, blending their expressive styles into a wearable artwork.
Gracie Abrams paid tribute to one of the most famous Klimt’s paintings, better known as the “Woman in Gold” The Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, her dress echoed the iconic gold-leaf effect, built from dense, mosaic-like embroidery.
Claire Foy’s look played around on Portrait of Madame X, bringing back the controversy of the falling shoulder strap portrait that caused a scandal in Paris in 1884, thanks to a shockingly slipped strap. Sargent famously repainted it, restoring the strap to the shoulder, but the tension never quite went away.
Rachel Zegler brought the drama of a teenage queen’s execution to life with a costume inspired by The Execution of Lady Jane Grey by Paul Delaroche. In the original painting, the blindfold highlighted her vulnerability and innocence, while the contrast between her calmness and the grim setting intensified the tragedy.
As Oscar Wilde famously wrote, “life imitates art” and nowhere was that more evident than in Amy Sherald’s costume, based on her own portrait Miss Everything (Unsuppressed Deliverance), blurring the line between artist, subject and spectacle.
Kim Kardashian cleverly chose to celebrate the irreverent and boldly inventive artist Allen Jones, whose work embraces popular culture and has, in turn, influenced everything from design to film and fashion.
Madonna embraced the surreal, appearing in a “witchy” look inspired by Leonora Carrington, whose dreamlike works are filled with mysticism, hybrid creatures and ritualistic imagery.
Alexi Ashe Meyers wore a Celine dress featuring bold blue body prints inspired by Yves Klein. She wasn’t the first to draw on his work, Kendall Jenner previously explored similar influences when she was invited to participate in W Magazine’s 10th Anniversary Art Issue. Jenner delved into the history of performance art, studying works by Yoko Ono, Ulay and Marina Abramović, as well as Yves Klein.
The inspiration extended beyond the paintings, Kendall Jenner channelled the iconic Winged Victory of Samothrace, bringing the marble masterpiece to life with a sculptural silhouette reminiscent of the Louvre’s grand staircase.
Never one to shy away from transformation, Heidi Klum arrived in a custom Mike Marino creation inspired by The Veiled Virgin, her face and body wrapped in delicate layers that mimicked carved marble.
Kylie Jenner also turned to sculpture, paying homage to the Venus de Milo by Alexandros of Antioch. Her nude illusion Schiaparelli gown echoed the timeless elegance of the armless statue.
The relationship between fashion and art is nothing new. Designers such as Yves Saint Laurent, Elsa Schiaparelli, Gianni Versace and Jean Paul Gaultier have long drawn from the art world.
At this year’s Met Gala, that connection was unmistakable: fashion didn’t just reference art, it became it.
