It would be an understatement to say Doja Cat’s not scared of turning a freaky look on the red carpet – rocking up to Schiaparelli’s SS23 Couture show dripping in head-to-toe blood red Swarovski crystals, and glueing spidery fake eyelashes to her face to create a ‘stache and brows at Viktor and Rolf’s Paris runway outing when fans said her bald look wasn’t giving – but tonight’s Met Gala ensemble probably takes the (cat) biscuit. 

In honour of Karl Lagerfeld, the former Dazed cover star literally came as his beloved cat, Choupette. Though she was rumoured to be walking the red carpet herself, the pampered Birman – who reportedly has her own iPad, eats from three gorgeous little Goyard dishes (same!), and only flies private – has had a busy week. Just a few days ago she was spotted giving Kim Kardashian the cold shoulder (and looking like she’d seen some things), so who could blame her for sitting this one out – presumably watching proceedings from a silk pillow with a couple of lines of catnip on hand.

Thankfully, Doja was there to give credit where credit was due, repping the spoilt kitty on the night by slipping into a slinky, Swarovski-crystallised custom Oscar de la Renta gown complete with cute Kawaii-esque cat ears. The icing on the cake, however, came via her prosthetic-augmented face.

With her pinched, turned-up little nose and haughty air, Doja sat somewhere between Whoville resident and AW23 Collina Strada model, with perhaps a little smattering of John Waters' grotesque brand of camp thrown in for good measure. The brains behind the the feline look was “make-up artist freak queen” Malina Stearns, whose horrific bending of established beauty standards has won her fans in Cindy Sherman and Petra Collins. 

So far, Doja’s look has unsurprisingly been a standout of the night, breathing a gust of fresh weirdo air into a sea of nude gowns and swathes and strings of pearls. Yes, we’re deeply into all the archive Chanel originally worn by Lagerfeld’s fave troupe of supermodels in the 80s and 90s, but in channelling his cat, Doja finally brought some drama to proceedings. Miaow!

In other news, Lil Nas X channelled a yassified, slightly evil version of Karl's cat – care of Pat McGrath, a tiny thong, and an unfathomable amount of pearls and crystals – and Jared Leto also came as Choupette, in a Spirit Halloween-esque costume with detachable head. If you want to take a look at that one... well, Google is free, baby.

Click through the gallery above for more from the white carpet, and follow along as we chart who’s wearing what at the 2023 Met Gala right here.