Peyton Place at the Met Gala 2023

I wasn’t going to write about the Met Gala this year.  Sometimes the costumes are hard for me to define.  But this year, honoring Karl Lagerfeld – it was different.  All the black and white fabrics and white camellias and the chains, and quilted leather, it was the best Met Gala in years, as far as I am concerned.  Bar none!

Honestly – who can top a night of Karl Lagerfeld?

 

The Gala started with a bang.  Anna Wintour and Bill Nighy.  Wow!  There have been rumors, but here they were, a couple on the red carpet.  If you don’t know who Bill Nighy is, be sure to watch Jane Austen’s 2020 Emma.  He makes that Emma the best Austen interpretation.  Well, after Johnny Flynn’s bare tushie, that is.

Nighy in Emma.  “I feel a draft!”

I didn’t know half the stars at the gala.   Maybe even 2/3 on the red carpet were unknown to me.  Getting old, folks.  But, who cares?  The Gala is a must-see each year.

 

This year I thought most everyone looked amazing, even Jared Leto dressed as Choupette.  But a few stuck in my mind – here is Emily Blunt looking amazing in this interpretation of Lagerfeld.  Originally I thought everyone would be wearing Chanel or Fendi or something Karl had designed himself.  But what was most creative is that most wore an interpretation of something Karl MIGHT have designed.   And so there was a sea of black and white and camellias and bows.   Emily just nailed it wearing her Michael Kors.

 

I love Lily James’ leather Lagerfeld inspired ball gown.  She may have played Pamela Anderson on TV, but at the Gala she looked exactly like Audrey Hepburn.

Penelope Cruz was another knock out.

 

Jenny Kim was the epitome of Lagerfeld!!

Elle Fanning was so adorable as a bride.  That bouquet!

Elle wore a necklace that was a copy of one that Princess Grace wore.

But the ultimate beauty of the night was Princess Grace’s granddaughter – Charlotte Casiraghi.  Charlotte is an Ambassador for Chanel.  God, she is elegant – a carbon copy of her mother,  Princess Caroline but prettier, if possible.

For me, the real story of the night wasn’t really about the costumes, it was about the mix of ex lovers and ex actors and the drama that ensued.  Almost everyone fit into some sort of group – either co stars or former lovers.

Let’s start with Devil Wears Prada – there they all were.   There was Anna Wintour playing Meryl Streep as herself, Emily Blunt and her arch nemesis Anne Hathaway.  And how can we forget Gisele Bundchen was in Prada? 

Anne Hathaway.  The new face of Versace.  I didn’t care for the camellia boobs.

 

Gisele.  Tom who?  She was having a blast wearing a real wedding dress.

For sure the most excitement clique were all the ex lovers, the love triangles.  The Met Gala means you have to go even if your recent ex is at the next table. 

This year Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas are married with a baby daughter.  But the first time they attended the gala, as guests of Ralph Lauren, they barely knew each other.  They kept in touch and two years later attended again in 2019 and married a few months later. 

 

2017 – strangers.

Camila Morrone looks smashing at the Gala.  She stars in Daisy Jones & The Six (Watch it!!) For the gala, she pulled herself together and tried to forget that she and Leonardo DiCaprio had broken up.  Worse, his new lover was at the Gala and looked even better than she did, unbelievably. 

Leo didn’t come to the Gala, but he showed up at the After Party, wearing a hat and mask so he was totally anonymous.  Except to his current girlfriend:

Incognito Leo – why?  Who does he think he’s fooling?

Here’s his new girlfriend Gigi Hadid at the after party.

And all dressed up for the Gala.  Poor Camila.  Or not.  I can’t see why anyone who wants to marry and have a baby would date Leo.  He’s a confirmed bachelor I believe.

And then there was the Harry Styles Clique.  Harry didn’t attend the Met Gala this year, he was probably in hiding.

Gorgeous Kendall Jenner in her ultra tall boots and quilted sleeves is one of the first to date Harry.  But she has no hard feelings and they are now great friends.  Kendall was with current boyfriend Bad Bunny.

Florence Pugh who shaved her head for the Gala. I hated the crown.   It is said that Pugh fell quickly for Harry Styles on the movie they made with Olivia Wilde.  When Harry promptly dumped Flo for Olivia, all hell broke out and Flo ended up hating Olivia which she claimed was because of artistic differences.  They don’t speak at all and she must have been dancing around the Gala to avoid Olivia even though Harry eventually dumped Olivia too.

At the Gala, Olivia Wilde looked gorgeous.  I’ve never seen her look so pretty.  I didn’t even like the dress!  But she was stunning.  She was also busy at the Gala avoiding both Florence Pugh and her ex friend Emily Ratajkowski who was seen snogging with Harry Styles a few weeks ago.  It must have killed Olivia.

And here was the busy, now separated,  Emily at the Gala.  I don’t know.  Men love her, but she always looks sort of messy to me.  Good thing Brad Pitt and Angela Jolie weren’t there, because she dated Brad after her divorce. 

At this years Oscar after party, Emily and Olivia hung out.  They were also seen at a Harry Styles concert together – before Olivia and Harry broke up. 

Besides Flo avoiding Olivia, Olivia had to avoid Emily and Emily had to avoid another:

   After Emily Ratajkowski dated Brad and before she dated Harry Styles, she dated the BDE guy – Pete Davidson!!!!

She’s something else.  Not that I blame her!  Emily with Harry and Pete Davidson.

 

Pete was at this years Gala again, looking cute in his bucket hat.  Remember last year?

At the 2022 Met Gala, Pete was with his then girlfriend, Kim Kardashian who was wearing the original Marilyn Monroe dress that she wore when she serenaded Happy Birthday to President John Kennedy.  They were a happy couple that night.  But they broke up soon afterwards.

While Pete was avoiding Emily, was he avoiding Kim Kardashian too?

Doesn’t look that way.

Awwww.  This photo was from this year!  Pete looks very happy to see his ex again.  Why Pete?!?!?  Why did y’all break up????  You were so cute together.

Kim was draped in Lagerfeld style pearls this year – her necklace was fabulous.  I wonder how she felt seeing Pete and Emily and all his other ex girlfriends?

Without a doubt the biggest ex lovers clique of the night is so large I don’t even know how to start.  I guess let’s start at the beginning.  The beginning of an era of fun, fan fics, pen pals and more:  Twilight!!!

Back in 2008, when this couple Rob Pattinson and Kristen Stewart were 22 and 18, they starred in the teen vampire movie Twilight.  The numbers of books sold and movie tickets bought was phenomenal.  Twilight spawned scores of copy cat genre books and movies, but in truth, it was the secret love affair of Rob and Kristen that drove fans crazy.  Are they dating?  Or not?  Rob and Kristen would never admit to a relationship, and it launched a thousand conspiracy theories, web sites, tweets, and gossip that would spread like wildfire through the fan network.  It wouldn’t be until years after they had broken up that they both admitted (to Howard Stern) that yes, they had dated for about five years and were once madly in love.  So there! 

It didn’t hurt that Rob was gorgeous and everyone wanted to date him.  Kristen was a tomboy, rough at the edges, but on film and in photos – she was angelic, incredibly beautiful.

The end came when Kristen was caught in the arms of her Snow White director.  The photos were so shocking, even I cried.  For two days.  LOL.  NO LIE!  I couldn’t imagine a life where Rob and Kristen weren’t together.  I wasn’t the only one crying.  The word among those in the know was that Rob was so distraught Kristen had made out with Rupert, that Rob was found by his agent, sobbing in his driveway  - in his pajamas.  (I always liked that detail, the pajamas.) 

The first time Kristen surfaced in public after her secret tryst, she had lost a significant amount of weight – the divorce diet.   While Rob and Kristen did reunite and were seen in Los Angles holding hands, it didn’t last long and they broke up again.  Rob finally moved out – for good. 

Kristen and her director – the shocking photos that ended Twilight’s infamous romance.  Years later she told Howard Stern that she and Rupert, the director, never even had sex and had barely kissed.  Both the director Rupert Sanders and Kristen were fired from the Snow White sequel even though the original movie had been a great success.  Their chaste tryst ruined their business careers for years.  Rupert’s wife Liberty Ross left him, but have no fear – she turns up at, guess where?  The Met Gala!

The first proof, a photo of the couple holding hands.  It’s love!  Shot by a hidden paparazzi after flying privately in 2009.  Swoon.  The rumors were true!  Although many at that time still felt it was a fake photo.

Rob and Kristen never attended the Met Gala together.  The first time Kristen attended the Gala was back in 2014 and she was solo.

Kristen’s first visit to the gala was in 2011 wearing Proenza Schouler.  I remember not liking this dress, but today – I actually do!  Rob did not attend with her – after all, they had not admitted they were together at this point.  The theme that year was Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty.  That McQueen show was the biggest Met Gala success to date.

 

The next year in 2012, she wore Balenciaga.  I loathed this dress!  Her shoes were a huge hit, but the dress, I just hated it.  Still no Rob.

The theme was Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations.

In 2013, now broken up with Rob Pattinson, Kristen wore Stella McCartney.  At this point, I realized I was never going to like her edgy Met Gala outfits.  Each year they had been such a disappointment.  I would count down the minutes until her arrival – so excited to see what she wore - yet I never liked the choice!   The theme that year was Punk: Chaos to Couture – not sure how this choice fit the theme?

2014 was a big change.  Kristen became a ambassador for Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel and she was often seen in gorgeous couture Chanel, head to toe.  Here, with dyed red hair, I actually liked this outfit, for once!  The theme?  Charles James: Beyond Fashion.

In 2016, the theme was Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology.  Kristen wore Chanel for the industrial theme.  This was the first year both she and Rob were at the Gala at the same time.

Skipping a few years, Kristen returned to the Gala in 2019.  Theme:  Camp.  Notes on Fashion.  Kristen’s look was a smashing success that year.  Evoking David Bowie with dyed hair and eyebrows, she wore Chanel.

2021:   In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.  Chanel again with a 50s styled hairdo.

Looking young and adorable.

When Rob and Kristen broke up, Rob started dating a singer/dancer named FKA Twigs.  Kristen came out as gay and dated a succession of women.    Today she is engaged. 

Rob’s first Gala was with Twigs in 2015.  This was a year Kristen just happened to miss.

 

His fans never liked Twigs and terrorized her on twitter.  This dress didn’t help the situation – his fans thought it was beyond ugly, especially the hand reaching out to her nipple.  Rob looked gorgeous that night. Seven months after they met, they were engaged. 

 

Another angle.   It was hard to understand wat was going on with all those legs on the dress.  Terrible! 

The theme that year was China: Through the Looking Glass.  Rihanna stole the show with her huge yellow coat dress and train.

The Twilight drama at the Gala began in 2016.

2016:  Rob looking not good at all with his shaved head (probably for a movie) and beard and Twigs didn’t look that great either.

This was the first year that Rob attended the gala when Kristen was there, but there was no news of them meeting up.

 

Rob and Twigs dated for three or four years.  She later dated Shia LeBeouf and sued him for mental cruelty and abuse.  That suit is ongoing I believe. 

 

Rob is now dating Suki Waterhouse, the singer and star of Daisy Jones & The Six.  Here they posed on the red carpet – one of the few public outings for them, although they have been dating for five years.  Suki wore a Fendi from the 2019 collection – the last that Lagerfeld designed.  Notice Rob’s pin and shoes.  He is the face of Dior Men.  His Dior coat was half long, half short, with pleats.  Beyond chic.

The couple sat with Kate Moss and her daughter.  They seemed very much in love.

 

Very, very happy all night.  As long as they avoided all their past loves.

Notice Rob’s coat and shoes. 

There is no word that they talked with Kristen at the Gala.

Here she is head to toe in Chanel, of course.  Her eyebrows are drawn in a straight line and her hair is a stylized mullet.  I kid you not.  She has had the same stylist since she was a young teen and I think it’s time to move on but she never will.

So while Kristen is avoiding Rob and Suki, she is also running as fast as she can away from the ex wife of her Snow White director, her former boyfriend she cheated on Rob with:   Rupert Sander’s ex wife Liberty Ross!  Yes!  After Kristen and Rupert ruined their lives with their chaste affair, Liberty divorced him and gave several interviews about how the faux affair was so traumatic.   When the Rupert and Kristen photos were shown, even Donald Trump commented on the scandal and tweeted many times about it, imploring Rob not to take Kristen back!!   Liberty is now married to music producer Jimmy Iovine.   She is seen here at the gala avoiding Kristen and Rob.  Is Liberty wearing thongs? 

 

So….. while Kristen and Rob are busy avoiding each other AND Liberty, Rob is having anxiety at the thought of running into another ex girlfriend.  Yes.  She was there:

FKA TWIGS!!!!  Here she is at the gala this year.  It was reported in all the tabloids that Twigs ran out running from the after party after she spotted Rob and Suki there. 

But there was one person Twigs couldn’t help not running into.  No one reported this meeting at the Met Gala, but a friend sent me a Getty video.

Here it is:

Right before Twigs started posing on the red carpet, she noticed the girl in front of her and quickly turned away.  It’s all on video.

 

There it is!  Twigs walked up and realized she was near Kristen.  She immediately backed up.  Whereas Kristen noticed her and looked to her right:

There she is!  The woman Rob ran to after we broke up!

After she turns to see Twigs, Kristen looked at the camera:

And broke out in a huge smile!!!   OMG!!!  This is so unbelievable!

Thank God for Getty videos.

So while Rob and Kristen are avoiding each other AND Rupert Sanders’ ex wife Liberty, and while Rob and Suki and Kristen are all avoiding TWIGS, Suki was also avoiding her former boyfriend, Bradley Cooper!

2014 Met Gala – Bradley and Suki with Anna Wintour.   Kristen was there at the gala that year, but no need for Suki and her to avoid each other back then.  At that time Suki did not know Rob and she would be dating in the future.

When Bradley and Suki dated, Suki was 23 and Bradley was 40.  When Bradley dumped Suki, she was so heartbroken she wrote a song about it which she still performs today.  A rumor is that when Bradley heard Rob was dating her, he called Rob to warn him that Suki was with him only to get acting roles.  What a jerk!!!  Or maybe he wanted her back for himself?  Hmmmm.

This year at the Met Gala 2023, Cooper was busy to avoid Rob and Suki and his ex and baby momma Irina.  Looks like he got caught by her.   Actually, they supposedly remain close friends.

Tom Sturridge and his girlfriend Alexa Chung

And in the final Rob, Kristen, Suki, Twigs, Bradley, Irina, et al clique is Tom Sturridge, Rob’s long standing best friend.   Tom and Kristen have been in a few movies together, most recently, playing lovers.  So weird:  Kristen playing lovers with Rob’s bestie.  Here he is at the Gala with his girlfriend Alexa Chung.  But also at the Gala was his long time ex and baby momma Sienna Miller, infamous for being one of those that helped to break up Jude Law’s marriage.

 

Sienna Miller, well known for starring with Bradley Cooper in American Sniper and Burnt.  Never confirmed, there are rumors they were secretly dating.  So while Sienna was avoiding Tom Sturridge and Alexa, she was also avoiding Irina and Bradley who was avoiding Suki and Rob, who were avoiding Twigs, who was avoiding Kristen, Rob and Suki.

Whew!!!

Sounds like fun!!!  If one person was having a blast, it probably was Kristen who most likely could care less about who she saw or who saw her.

And there you have it, Peyton Place at this year’s Met Gala!!  Until next year!!