So, what did I think? A little droopy, I’d say. On average, attendees looked better than usual, probably because the theme was Karl Lagerfeld, which means the theme was basically Chanel, and Chanel can be gorgeous. What was lost was color (most people wore black and white) and the delight that comes with seeing someone wear something ludicrous. Jared Leto, who is slated to play Lagerfeld in an upcoming biopic, had to dress up like the late designer’s cat, Choupette, in order to freak people out. ‘A’ for effort on the Vogue livestream, hosted by Derek Blasberg, SNL’s Chloe Fineman, and Lala Anthony (a true talent) and mostly sponsored by eBay—with the average time spent amounting to 21 minutes for those watching via YouTube, according to YouTube Analytics. (For me, it was over 2 hours… I’m not sure what Vogue can do to speed up those arrivals…) 

Despite my whining, there’s no denying that, for the weeks surrounding it, the Gala is at the center of popular culture—a heady feat in our fragmented, disintermediated media. According to Vogue’s internal numbers, the 2023 Met Gala-related videos—including livestream, replays and other stuff—have generated 687 million views globally across platforms, up 60 percent from a year earlier. Brand Watch is reporting 12.3 billion social interactions with the #Metgala hashtag across platforms, up 30 percent year over year.