Following weeks of protests over her involvement in the Met Gala, Lauren Sánchez Bezos’ knew all eyes would be on her as she walked up the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s iconic steps on Monday night.
And she made sure to hide a message to her critics in her deceptively simple navy-blue gown.
Sánchez Bezos, who is an honorary cochair this year with her husband Jeff Bezos, walked the carpet solo on Monday night. Though Bezos and Sanchez Bezos have both attended the Met Gala before, they’ve never walked the red carpet together.
At this year’s event, she wore an off-the-shoulder Schiaparelli gown, which featured jeweled straps, a deep V-neck, and ties running down the back that mimicked a corset.
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The dress code for Monday night’s event was “Fashion Is Art,” and Sánchez Bezos revealed on Instagram that her source of inspiration was “Madame X.”
The 1884 painting by John Singer Sargent was a portrait of the American socialite Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau. The original artwork featured a strap slipping from Gautreau’s shoulder, which was seen as vulgar and salacious at the time by Parisian society.
It caused such a stir that Sargent repainted the strap.
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Sánchez Bezos has received plenty of criticism of her own for her fashion choices, including when she sported an Alexander McQueen pantsuit that showcased her lacy bra during Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration.
“No lace at the White House. Noted,” she later told The New York Times in response to the backlash.
Monday night marks Sánchez Bezos’ rising influence in the world of fashion. Her sponsorship was a direct request from Anna Wintour, who previously put Sánchez Bezos on the digital cover of Vogue following her multi-million-dollar wedding extravaganza in Venice.
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Sánchez Bezos previously told “Today” that she’s “honored” to be a cochair and excited to celebrate “true artists” through this year’s “Costume Art” theme.
“It’s going to be incredible to see what everyone wears and to be able to really honor all these designers,” she said on the show.
Sánchez Bezos and her husband are the first private sponsors of the Met Gala since 2018, when it was funded in part by Blackstone CEO Stephen A. Schwarzman and his wife, Christine Hearst Schwarzman.
The Bezoses involvement in the annual event has been protested for weeks in New York City, where a group called Everyone Hates Elon — a reference to fellow billionaire Elon Musk — has posted boycott signs and other protest displays ahead of the ball.
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The group says it’s protesting Bezos’ involvement due to reported poor working conditions at Amazon, which the company previously denied, and the company’s longstanding ties to ICE.
