At the Met Gala 2023, men didn't try that hard Between basic outfits, strange fits and utterly chaotic ensembles

Another Met Gala has come and gone. This year's theme was Karl Lagerfeld, a volcanic and controversial designer who has provided the fashion world with truckloads of archival looks practically single-handedly building the vibe for Chanel and Fendi over the course of a 65-year career. Now, like every year there were successful and less successful looks, but one thing that was impossible not to notice was how incredibly little effort the men on the red carpet put in dressing up. Compared to a minority of guests who really dared a lot, such as Lil Nas X who together with Pat McGrath created quite an unforgettable look, the men at the Met Gala were divided between the daredevils who tried to be original without being so and the shy ones who wore a dark suit hoping to get it over with as soon as possible. Acting as the balance between the two groups was Ke Huy Quan, star of Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, who with Dior created a subtle but very precise Lagerfeld cosplay that demonstrated a perfect understanding of the assignment. In addition to Lil Nas X and Ke Huy Quan, other excellent looks were Russell Westbrook in Bode, Eddie Redmayne in Alexander McQueen, Olivier Rousteing and Conan Gray in Balmain, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Baz Luhrmann, and Pusha T in Thom Browne (all of Browne's looks were crazy last night), Leon Lai Yi in Prada, Taika Waititi In Prabal Gurung, and Chi Ossé in Advisry. The rest of the looks go on a descending scale from the tremendously basic to the trashy - a scale that begins with the very rich Bob Iger in a black suit and Lagerfeld sneakers and ends in Jared Leto's delirious and vaguely desperate costume. Strange but true, none of the participants thought to find or try to retrieve outfits from Chanel's menswear archive, examples of which abounded and would, at the very least, have shown extra interest in research.

One category of chaotic outfits was the "cape outfits": Diddy, Brian Tyree and Henry stuck on top of a cape declined gradually in baroque and frilly. All three, and each in their own way, tried to evoke an extravagance and theatricality that they were unable to evoke, resulting in a great «Meh». The only very good quiet luxury enjoys last night were Keith Urban, in a neat ceremonial tailcoat that rightly did not even try to match Nicole Kidman's magnificence but existed peripherally to it with indefatigable dignity, and GQ's Will Welch, who showed up in a perversely elegant Saint Laurent suit and a set of Chrome Hearts jewelry that hinted at Lagerfeld's passion for the Los Angeles brand. A note of credit goes to Dwayne Wayde and Kodi Smit-McPhee in Prada, who took no risks but showed that they were aware they were at the Met Gala; but also to Maluma and Bad Bunny, who the bookies were giving up as doomed but instead landed on the red carpet with well-thought-out outfits.