The Picture Show : NPR
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Dua Lipa
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Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

Dua Lipa
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
In New York City, the first Monday night in May means the Met Gala — the megawatt party and fashion soiree that raises money for New York’s famed Metropolitan Museum of Art.
This year’s event celebrates the opening of a new show at the museum’s Costume Institute: “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty.”Lagerfeld, one of the most looming presences in fashion for many decades, was the creative director for both Fendi and Chanel (respectively from 1965 and 1983 until his death in 2019) as well as his own eponymous line.
This year’s hosts are actress Penélope Cruz, an ambassador for Chanel since 2018, as well as actress Michaela Coel, tennis star Roger Federer, singer Dua Lipa and Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue and global chief content officer for the fashion magazine’s parent company, Conde Nast. Tickets, which were available by invitation only, cost $50,000 each, with tables available beginning at $300,000.
This year’s guests have been asked to dress “in honor of Karl”: a wide-ranging dictum, considering that over the decades Lagerfeld also designed for Chloé, Balmain and Patou.
Ironically, Lagerfeld was not a fan of putting fashion behind glass in museum displays; the exhibition’s curator, Andrew Bolton, told Vogue last year that the designer often said, “‘Fashion is not art—fashion belongs on the street, on women’s bodies, on men’s bodies.'”

Michaela Coel
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Roger Federer and Mirka Federer
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Penélope Cruz
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Anna Wintour and Bill Nighy
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Jeremy Pope
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Florence Pugh
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Lil Nas X
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A$AP Rocky and Rihanna
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A$AP Rocky and Rihanna
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Brian Tyree Henry
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Jared Leto
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Janelle Monáe
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Bad Bunny
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Jenna Ortega
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Michelle Yeoh
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Stephanie Hsu
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Jennifer Lopez
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Halle Bailey
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Yung Miami
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Anok Yai
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Gigi Hadid
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Brittney Griner and Cherelle Griner
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Lizzo
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Viola Davis
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Kendall Jenner
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Kylie Jenner
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Kim Kardashian
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Finneas O’Connell and Billie Eilish
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Tems
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Teyana Taylor
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Olivia Rodrigo
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Conan Gray
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Lily Collins
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Anitta
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David Byrne
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Quinta Brunson
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Aubrey Plaza
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Pedro Pascal
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Bella Ramsey
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Sora Choi
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Stormzy
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Sydney Sweeney
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Cardi B
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Mary J. Blige
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François-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek Pinault
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Jessica Chastain
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Serena Williams
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Daniel Ricciardo
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Anne Hathaway
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Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin
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Doja Cat
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Naomi Campbell
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Madelyn Cline
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Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade
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Ice Spice
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Jeremy Strong
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Julia Garner
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Suki Waterhouse and Robert Pattinson
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Camila Morrone
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Amanda Seyfried
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
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Hannah Bagshawe and Eddie Redmayne
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Jodie Comer
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Yara Shahidi
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Adut Akech and Wes Gordon
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Karlie Kloss
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Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban
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Olivia Wilde
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Ashley Graham
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Margot Robbie
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Huma Abedin
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Gustav Witzoe
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Maude Apatow
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Ariana DeBose
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Kelsey Asbille Chow
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Tyler Mitchell
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Phoebe Bridgers
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Amber Valletta
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Kaitlyn Dever
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Gisele Bündchen
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Quannah Chasinghorse
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Liu Wen
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Maya Hawke
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Emily Ratajkowski
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Imaan Hammam
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Taika Waititi and Rita Ora
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Emma Chamberlain
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Chloe Fineman
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La La Anthony
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Grace Widyatmadja photo edited this piece.