Evening Dress Inspiration from the Costume Institute Gala
The Costume Institute Gala Benefit to celebrate the opening of the American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity exhibition took place at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on Monday. As you would expect it was a star studded event with many celebrities wearing amazing and beautiful evening dresses. Most notably, there was Katy Perry in her seemingly demure pink dress that was lined with LED lights so that when the lights went down she glowed. There was also Alexa Cheung with a very daring alternative to an evening dress, black trousers and a jacket worn with a white shirt and black ribbon at the neck.
As well as the completely unique and individual attention grabbiing outfits, there was a whole raft of stunningly beautiful gowns and dresses that most women can only dream of wearing. As with other recent celebrity events, the trend for white, neutrals, blush and nudes was very apparent. Harry Potter star Emma Watson glowed in floor length white Burberry, a grown up look for the British actress and student but not surprising taken her new role as face of the brand. Kate Hudson looked stunning in her draped taupe coloured dress, slashed daringly to the thigh. Jessica Alba showed that it was possible to work the red carpet in a high street dress when she wore a dusty rose pink satin gown from the Sophie Theallet collection for Gap. Sarah Jessica Parker shone in her glittering Halston dress with floor length pleats and delicate spaghetti straps.
Some of the dresses could almost have been mistaken for wedding dresses with their full skirts, ivory and cream colour schemes and intricate embellishments. Jennifer Lopez wore a glittering strapless gown by Zuhair Murad and Anne Hathaway sparkled in sequinned Valentino.
Another key look at the gala was for strapless dresses with pencil skirts and a flowing train behind as worn by Sex and the City actress Kristin Davis and Eva Longoria in a silver embroidered crepe gown by Marchesa. Texture was also a bit of a theme with plenty of embellishment, ruffles and draping. Riley Keough’s oyster coloured silk dress was an interested and unusual shape created by lots of ruffles with unfinished edges. Kirsten Dunst wore a beautifully draped dress by couture Rodarte for Gap, so elegant with almost a vintage feel about it. Kristen Bell wore an interesting Diane Von Furstenberg dress made of lots of very short layers of fabric swirling into rose shapes at the bottom of the floor length skirt.
There was also a sprinkling of gowns in bright blues, namely Blake Lively in Marchesa, Christina Hendricks in Lâ??Wren Scott and Emmy Rossum in a Kenneth Cole, some pinks including Naomi Watts in Stella McCartney and Rachel Weisz in custom made Oscar De La Renta and navy with Sienna Miller in Emilio Pucci and Satsuki Mitchell in Burberry.
As is often the case, the dress that probably stood out the most was one which was slightly different from all the others. Camilla Belle wore a beautifully simple red chiffon gown by Jason Wu, strapless with a shaped bodice and gently flaring skirt.
Take inspiration from the celebrities in these beautiful evening dresses by Roman Originals.
