Cat's out of the bag! Kim Kardashian's 2023 Met Gala prep is officially underway.
The Kardashians star is getting style ideas straight from the source, as she recently visited the Parisian office of the late Karl Lagerfeld. After all, the theme for fashion's biggest night on May 1 will honor the life and legacy of the legendary designer, who created unforgettable pieces for Chanel, Fendi, Chloe, Balmain and Patou.
"Had a date with Choupette Lagerfeld in Paris," Kim captioned her April 26 Instagram, referring to Karl's beloved Birman cat. "We then spent some time at @karllagerfeld's office to get a little inspiration for the Met."
A few photos in Kim's Instagram carousel showed behind-the-scenes moments of her looking at a collage of design sketches, black-and-white photographs and magazine cutouts. She also got to hang out with Choupette in a lavish bed that featured gold ornamentation with floral wallpaper and matching canopy bed curtains.
And for her Parisian trip, Kim kept it chic and sleek, wearing a high-shine black trench coat that gave off Matrix vibes. She paired the look with matching latex boots.
While the SKIMS founder kept details of her Met Gala attire under wraps, it's no secret she's willing to go above and beyond for the annual fête. Take last year, for example, when she admitted to losing 16 lbs to fit into Marilyn Monroe's original "naked dress" from 1962.
"It was such a challenge," Kim told Vogue on the red carpet. "It was like a role. I was determined to fit."
She explained that she wasn't allowed to alter the historical dress, which was loaned to her from Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum, so she had to get herself into shape.
"I would wear a sauna suit twice a day, run on the treadmill, completely cut out all sugar and all carbs, and just eat the cleanest veggies and protein," Kim said of her process. "I didn't starve myself, but I was so strict."
When Marilyn's gown fit, Kim recalled feeling emotional, sharing, "I wanted to cry tears of joy."
With the 2023 Met Gala a week away, it's only a matter of time before Kim wows fans on the red carpet. But until then, relive her most challenging looks at the annual celebration.
On the first Monday of May in 2022, and accompanied by then-boyfriend Pete Davidson, Kim walked the Met Gala red carpet in the gold gown Marilyn Monroe famously wore while singing "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" to John F. Kennedy in 1962. Since the dress was a piece of American history and could not be altered, Kim said she lost 16 pounds in three weeks in order to fit in it.
"I would wear a sauna suit twice a day, run on the treadmill, completely cut out all sugar and all carbs, and just eat the cleanest veggies and protein," she told Vogue. "I didn't starve myself, but I was so strict."
In order to channel Marilyn Monroe for the 2022 Met Gala, Kim spent 10 hours before the red carpet event bleaching her trademark brunette hair. In a YouTube video shared by Kylie Jenner, Kim quipped of the lengthy dye job, "I'll risk getting my hair to fall out."
Not only did Kim's her Balenciaga ensemble made it hard for Met Gala chairwoman Anna Wintour to recognize her during the 2021 event (the 2020 Met Gala was canceled amid the start of the COVID-19 pandemic), but the head-to-toe look also prevented the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star from jotting down future [ex-]boyfriend Pete Davidson phone number.
"I saw him at the Met and he knew I was hosting SNL but it wasn't announced yet. He came up to me and we were talking about SNL," she recalled of their encounter during an episode of Dear Media's Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast. "I had gloves on and I couldn't get into my phone."
Fortunately, the couple reconnected during Kim's SNL appearance and the rest was history.
To achieve the look of a super snatched waist in her Thierry Mugler dress at the 2019 Met Gala, themed "Camp: Notes on Fashion," Kim wore a constricting corset by Mr Pearl that made it difficult for her to move. Despite taking "breathing lessons" from the designer to ensure that she can breathe while wearing the undergarment, the ultra-cinched ensemble restricted her from sitting, forcing Kim to, um, opt out of using the bathroom once she had it on.
"If it's an emergency, I think I pee my pants and then have my sister wipe my leg up," she said while preparing for the event, as shown on Keeping Up With the Kardashians. "I'm not even joking. She can wipe my leg up."
Kim also said the beads on her gown, which hung off the fabric to make it look like she had just climbed out of the ocean, poked her from the inside. She quipped, "It's a cactus."
Although Kim radiated in gold on the red carpet in 2018, her Versace gown proved to more troublesome once she got inside the Met. In a video shared to her social media account, Kim said the sequins on her dress kept getting caught on other people's clothes—particularly the tulle skirt of fellow guest SZA.
"When your dress is connected to this beauty," she quipped in the clip, showing their downs entwined together as assistants tried to untangle the knotted chaos. "We're stuck together!"
You could say that Kim didn't get much beauty beauty rest before the 2016 gala. After all, the reality star previously explained, she met up with Balmain designer Olivier Rousteing once she flew into New York at 1 a.m. for a fitting, where they "literally cut skirts in half, created tops from dresses, and stayed up until 4 a.m. to get the perfect option that we felt fit the theme."
The result was a result was a futuristic metallic gown that paired perfectly with the theme of "Manus × Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology."
Kim added, "The process of getting ready for an event like this is intense; it really takes a village."
The SKIMS mogul later called bleaching her eyebrows for the look a "big mistake."
Kim was in the first trimester of her pregnancy with her and ex Kanye West's second child, son Saint West, when the then-couple attended the 2015 Met Gala. She ultimately concealed her baby bump in a sparkling, semi-sheer Roberto Cavali gown. She wrote on her app after the event, "I was trying to hide it."
Before Kim had even stepped onto the red carpet at the 2014 Met Gala, her look was already causing some drama. Not only did Kim suffer a wardrobe malfunction in the high-slit Lanvin gown while on her way to the Met, but the chunky belt and leather cuffs she originally wore with the dress were "a bit too rock 'n' roll" for her taste.
To make sure she was camera-ready, Kim ditched the accessories in the car and swapped them for a clean black satin belt.