New Style Idea

With the 2022 Met Gala less than a week away, there’s a healthy dose of speculation, not just of the top-secret guest list but also what those guests will ultimately be wearing when they step on the red carpet of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s steps come Monday, May 2.

Cara Delevingne is one Met Gala guest who can be counted on to deliver a statement making look — literally. During her April 2022 cover shoot with FN, the actress looked back to her 2021 Met Gala look, a white Christian Dior pantsuit with a bib top that read “Peg the Patriarchy,” (a look that was only eclipsed by another message-driven outfit: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Tax the Rich” gown).

“I always have these stupid thoughts and ideas — not stupid but things that I [think] would never happen,” she recalled of the outfit, which came together with Dior creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri. “I found it online and thought, yeah, this would be amazing to put on my shirt. And Dior said yes. I just didn’t think it was possible.”

While it remains to be seen whether Delevingne is on the highly anticipated and much rumored guest list, if the actress does attend, it’s likely that she’ll tap into one of the handful of brands that she has partnered with over the past few years. In addition to serving as ambassador for Dior beauty and jewelry and watches, the model also works with Puma and Seven for All Mankind. For years, the Delevingne was a regular face at Chanel, walking the brand’s runway shows for Karl Lagerfeld, including his last collection in 2019 following the designer’s death.

This August, the actress will debut a capsule of sustainable and gender-fluid designs with the Karl Lagerfeld brand. It’s likely to be the most accurate reflection of her own aesthetic: a study of pure insouciance. It may also inform her upcoming Met Gala look, if the model does attend.

“I don’t think about it that much,” Delevingne said of her personal style. And of fashion inspirations: “I look more to Karl Lagerfeld than I do to women. And maybe also David Bowie.”

Delevingne’s partnerships also tap into the many causes she supports, from sustainability and climate action to mental health, LGBTQIA+ and women’s rights. Both Puma and Seven for All Mankind have donated to the Cara Delevingne Foundation, benefiting mental health and sustainability causes.

“I kind of refer to it as dogs sniffing each other’s a**es. It’s not that I pick a brand or a brand picks me, you just kind of suss each other out,” she says. “There are some things I just jump right on, if it’s a thing that I believe in from my whole heart, because there is never time to waste.”