There were faux nipples and real ones. There were metal nipples, sequined nipples and nipple-tastic trompe l’oeil gowns. There were so many nipples on the Met Gala red carpet that one might consider torso chic the new naked dress.
The look was in keeping with the gala’s accompanying exhibition at the Costume Institute, an exploration of how the dressed and undressed human body is a staple of nearly every gallery in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Sabine Getty, a jewelry designer and socialite, was among the first to display nipples in a custom Ashi Studio couture gown with an oil-painting of a woman’s torso. She found her fashion match in the actor and singer Jeremy Pope, who wore an archival Vivienne Westwood corseted jacket that featured a muscular male torso made out of beads.
Kylie and Kendall Jenner arrived in gowns with fake nipples beneath the corsets. Kylie’s was custom Schiaparelli, and Kendall’s a custom Gap Studio by Zac Posen gown.
The model Alex Consani, wearing Gucci, and the rapper and singer Doechii, in Marc Jacobs, dressed their torsos in barely-there attire with their nipples peeking through.
There were also more outlandish takes. Janelle Monáe, in a structured moss-meets-machine Christian Siriano gown, displayed round metal plates on her chest. Chase Infiniti wore a Thom Browne gown meant to mimic an abstract nude, with 1.5 million sequins.
And then, on the other end of the spectrum, there was Heidi Klum. Always one to commit to a bit, the model and “Project Runway” host turned up looking like a Greco-Roman statue. Her gown, designed by Mike Marino, was equipped with latex nipples protruding through a latex veil.
Alisha Haridasani Gupta is a Times reporter covering style and pop culture.
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