2018 met gala

Anna Wintour Showed Up to Met Gala as ‘Cardinal Chanel’

Anna Wintour.
Anna Wintour. Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Closely adhering to this year’s Met Gala theme, Anna Wintour stepped onto the red carpet dressed as “Cardinal Chanel,” because she’s wearing Chanel and the Gala is Catholicism-themed — get it? Also, is that a diamond rosary around her neck? Take a drink.

While some tardy celebrities are still finishing up their hair and makeup prep, the early birds are starting to arrive at 2018’s holy gala, which is titled “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.” Fingers crossed that other guests follow the religious theme as closely as Wintour — we’d love to see Rihanna dressed as a bad Catholic schoolgirl.

For the past 23 years, Wintour has served as co-chair of the event, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. While on the red carpet, the Vogue editor-in-chief stopped to pose with her daughter Bee Shaffer, who’s wearing a red Valentino gown by Pierpaolo Piccioli.

Though Wintour doesn’t often stick too closely to the ball’s theme, she does typically show up wearing Chanel. In 2017, she shook her butt on the dance floor with James Corden in a sequined custom Chanel, and for 2016’s Manus x Machina–themed gala, she wore a floor-length beaded Chanel gown.

While some are wondering whether this is Wintour’s last ball as Vogue’s editor-in-chief, we have some more pressing questions, ex.: Does she have any plans to give Holy Communion at the end of the red carpet?

Anna Wintour Closely Followed the Met Gala’s Catholic Theme