It doesn't take much for James McAvoy to manufacture a viral moment – especially at something as ogled as the Met Gala 2023. After all, it took just a JCB of boiled eggs and a gruelling workout routine for Twitter to melt during his transformation for psycho-thriller Split in 2017. The X-Men campaign trail saw pure chaos and Internet fire opposite Michael Fassbender. 2021's Together with Sharon Horgan was yet more proof that British comedy is some of the best on this good planet.
But all of those prior episodes were waved into second place. And all it took was a splendid little fan.
Arriving at the Met Gala 2023 in custom Dunhill that brought a Regency kinda suit into the 21st century, the actor's play on the dress code – officially dubbed “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” – was quiet, cerebral and pretty perfect. As the late creative director of Chanel, Lagerfeld was known for being a big fan of a little fan. A multitude of shoots saw him wield a concertina (usually black, or a little bit lacy) beneath impenetrable sunglasses; a physical masquerade that was, possibly, another considered attempt to stoke up the enigma and mythology around one of fashion's greatest polymaths. Lagerfeld was big into world-building. Set design – like the sprawling artifice of his Chanel runway shows, be that a rocket launch pad or a fully branded supermarket, or his own personal accessories – were necessary props in that world-building.
Rather than go full fat obvious, McAvoy mimicked the finer details of Lagerfeld's world. Anything more obvious would've probably caused the designer to get very cross. But in a fan, there's homage, tribute and theatrics – three ingredients that make for most memorable Met Gala fits. It's a wink and a nudge to fashion's Mount Rushmore. It nods to André Leon Talley, a titan of Vogue who sadly passed away last year, who also belongs in that legendary canon. It's an artefact of queer culture, of camp, of coquettishness, of both packed dancefloors in West Hollywood and palazzo trysts in 15th century Venice.
You don't always need a seven-in-one costume to dominate Met Gala headlines. Sure, it helps. And it's sick if you do go that route. But to make a viral moment that'll scramble tweets for weeks to come, you need only be a fan of James McAvoy.
