It was the first gala since King Charles’ coronation, and several guests were still getting used to calling the charity the King’s Trust, having been known as the Prince’s Trust since its founding in 1976.
Three years ago the global gala came to New York under the helm of Lionel Richie and Edward Enninful, and with it a slew of star power. This year’s names included Kate Moss, Kate Beckinsale, Sam Smith, Drew Barrymore, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen, Dominic West, Laverne Cox, Emily Ratajkowski, Irina Shayk, Ashley Graham, Charlotte Tilbury, Law Roach, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Iris Law, Joan Smalls and Teyana Taylor, as well as a classic late arrival, no-photos-please appearance by Leonardo DiCaprio (a shtick that’s extremely tired, we might add).
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Before taking their seats inside Casa Cipriani for the program, there was a red carpet to be had.
“I don’t have an invite [to the Met Gala] so this is my night,” Cox said. Her look was straight from “Laverne’s archives” — “the hat I’ve had for awhile, it’s vintage Pierre Balmain from the ’50s, the dress is 2001, Mugler’s last collection. This purse is mid-’90s Mugler, and this coat I got in Paris, it’s Alaïa 1998.”
Richie, who performed at the king’s coronation last year, said that he is happy for Charles’ return to health, “so he gets to realize this vision.”
“We’re both the same age, and what I love most about the king is that we come from different places in life, but we have the same heart. He has the same wanting to give back,” Richie said. “As we’ve been going along since 1984, the interest now becomes ‘well, Lionel what do you think?’ And I said, ‘well, we should go over there to America, we should go to Australia, we should go to Canada.’”
“King Charles is a visionary — he’s a visionary of our time,” praised Tilbury. “He wants to help people.”
The beauty guru was heading off to the Miami Grand Prix for the weekend, but noted she’d been hard at work getting several celebrities on board for the Met.
“I’ve got loads of people wearing my makeup [at the Met] — Lana Del Rey, all these beautiful [ladies].”
Enninful, dressed in a pair of McQueen velvet loafers with “Ru” and “Ri” embroidered on them (his dogs, named after “RuPaul and Riri”), heads back to the U.K. rather than staying for the Met Gala.
“I’ll be home watching like everyone,” he said.
Now in his third year of hosting the global gala with Richie, he praised the organization’s work.
“It’s now in over 20 countries, and 1.2 million young people have been put into work,” he said. “So for me that’s what’s wonderful.”
The crowd then headed to dinner, which included a reading from three young people involved with the organization and a performance by John Legend. DiCaprio kept his signature baseball hat low, chatting with Shayk between courses. The outdoor terrace had a constant revolving door as the likes of Barrymore, Moss and Jacobs sneaked out for cigarette breaks. The arrival of Rihanna was rumored to be imminent throughout the night, with Richie even telling the room that she’d arrived, only to be corrected by Enninful that she was “not quite here yet.”
“It’s part of our culture being artists and musicians that we’re not supposed to be on time, we’re supposed to be in time,” Richie responded, rather poetically. For those eager for a sighting of Rihanna, never fear: The Met looms.