Met Gala 2023: Naked dress trend sweeps red carpet
A bevy of stars have left little to the imagination on the Met Gala red carpet, embracing the event’s most enduring trend.
No trend has stood the test of time at the Met Gala quite like the naked dress.
Ever since 1974, when Cher graced the carpet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in shimmering, sheer Bob Mackie, stars have found a way to bring their interpretation to the annual event – though not without controversy.
The “magnetism of the best naked dresses”, Gladys Lai wrote in a recent piece for Vogue Australia, is “where something is worn, with total ease and comfort, that appears as if nothing is being worn at all”.
“If we intellectualise the appeal, they’re admirable feats of illusion and craftsmanship,” she continued.
“More simply, though, a naked dress is a statement. It’s unapologetically sexy. It’s a wink in the form of a gown. And on the first Monday of May, with the whole world watching, what better piece to wear than the ultimate, barely there party dress?”
This year’s theme, ‘Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty’, pays homage to the life and legacy of the late Chanel creative director, who died in 2019 aged 85.
And leading the naked charge, as she is wont to do, was one of the night’s most-awaited arrivals: Kim Kardashian.
Kardashian collaborated with Schiaperelli’s Daniel Roseberry to create a sheer taupe gown threaded with over 50,000 freshwater pearls and 16,000 crystals.
The look took a dozen artisans over 1000 hours of work to complete, according to Vogue, with each strand of pearls strung and draped to her body.
kim kardashian’s met gala look reminds me of her playboy photoshoot from 2007 pic.twitter.com/kyivYNxnSL
— High End Homo (@highendhomo) May 2, 2023
“This year I just wanted to feel glamorous. I really didn’t feel the pressure,” she told Vogue of her look.
While the dress was no doubt intended to pay homage to Lagerfeld’s frequent use of the gem, social media users drew comparisons to her 2007 photo-shoot for Playboy.
Amanda Seyfried, meanwhile, looked straight out of the roaring ‘20s in a chainmail mini dress by Oscar de la Renta, stitched with 800,000 beads.
Model Karen Elson wore a long-sleeved, entirely sheer black gown with floral applique inspired by Chanel’s camellia iconography across her chest and torso.
Actor Rachel Brosnahan also took the trend to extremes, walking the carpet in eye-catching gothic look by Sergio Hudson.
The gown comprised of a long-sleeved sheer top – with two, strategically-placed sequin adornments across her breasts – and a low-rise column skirt.
The Marvellous Mrs Maisel star wore a trailing black coat draped over her shoulders.
Suki Waterhouse had a more romantic take on the trend.
The actor, musician and model embraced it in a completely sheer Fendi gown, covered in pale yellow, coral, and basil green floral embroidery.
Michaela Coel, who is co-hosting this year’s event alongside Penelope Cruz, Roger Federer and Dua Lipa, wore gilded custom Schiaperelli inspired by one of Chanel’s signatures – costume jewellery.
The long-sleeved, sheer gown was embroidered with 130,000 crystals, and then “re-embroidered” with trompe l’oeil jewellery in Schiaparelli’s signature human anatomy motifs.
It took over 3800 hours of hand-embroidery to complete the look.
Singer Rita Ora – no stranger to the naked dress – wore a black Prabal Gurung gown featuring a corset bodice and two exposed panels across the skirt and midriff.
Amber Valletta left little to the imagination.
The supermodel donned a sheer white gown embroidered with crystals, and a cut-out through the midriff.
In a piece for Vogue earlier this week, Valletta paid tribute to Lagerfeld, describing him “as this emperor of fashion … like a royal being”.
Janelle Monae, always one to get creative, didn’t disappoint – stopping midway up the steps to shed her conical black-and-white coat.
The actor and musician revealed a wireframe, sheer gown beneath, which she paired with sparkling black underwear.
“It’s such a surprise. I have an experience that I’ve put together,” she told People ahead of the event.
“You have to watch. Watch that red carpet because you don’t want to miss a beat.”
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