Just one day after the lights dimmed on another edition of New York Fashion Week, and the MTV Video Music Awards took over Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, pop culture’s most famous faces have descended on the The Metropolitan Museum of Art to celebrate the fashion industry’s party of the year: the Met Gala.
Typically held on the first Monday in May (it was postponed in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic), the star-studded annual fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute heralds the opening of the museum’s banner fashion exhibition — this year, “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.” Opening to the public on September 18, it’s the first half of a two-part exhibition exploring how the narratives and aesthetics of American fashion have evolved since the 1940s until now, through about 100 historical and contemporary ensembles.
But tonight, the focus is on the steps of the Met, where A-list actors, supermodels,TV drag queens and athletes will be walking the cream carpet in their finest designer attire.
This year’s co-chairs reflect the not only the diversity of the invite list, but its collective star power: Timothée Chalamet, Naomi Osaka, Billie Eilish and inaugural poet Amanda Gorman are presiding over the function, alongside honorary chairs Anna Wintour, Tom Ford, and Instagram head Adam Mosseri.
Ahead of the event, Wintour told CNN Style via email that American fashion in 2021 has become “a patchwork, reflecting the world we’re all living in, as seen through many different lenses.”
As the red carpet arrivals get underway, onlookers can expect to see the patchwork on full display tonight.
Follow this story to see all the highlights from this year’s Met Gala red carpet as they happen.