The pre-Met Gala pap walk is becoming fashion canon

Though we never know for sure which celebrities have made the cut, there is one tell-tale sign that a star is attending the Met Gala: a New York pap shot days before the event. Over the years, fashion fans have decoded whether their favourite stars are attending thanks to these images, which usually fall into two camps. First, the would-be-attendee is caught unawares, darting swiftly into their hotel under a big coat and baseball cap. The second? A suspiciously slow walk from the revolving doors of The Mark, grinning manically in an elaborate outfit to let you know they’re in town for one reason only.

As it’s now becoming increasingly difficult to avoid detection, more and more celebrities are leaning into the latter camp – so much so that the pre-Met Gala pap walk has practically become fashion canon. Take Doechii, for example, who announced her arrival to The Big Apple on Instagram, swinging some Louis Vuitton luggage outside her hotel, a reference to an iconic image of André Leon Talley, who did the same outside a hotel in Paris. Like this, not only are these pap walks arrival announcements, but they also contain easter eggs as to who that person might be wearing or paying homage to on the night – in this case Louis Vuitton and ALT (Paloma Elsesser was also spotted in NY yesterday wearing a jacket with Talley’s face spray-painted on the back).

Elsewhere, other pap walks prove the Met Gala has gone far beyond one night, and that the fashion starts long before the red carpet. Last night, you couldn’t miss Tyla in a striped bubble skirt mini dress from Tolu Coker’s AW25 collection, attention-grabbing all the way down to the giant bowler hat. Hunter Schafer was also in fine fashion form, wearing a sequinned LBD from Undercover (along with some cute little angel wings), and Sabrina Carpenter also hit the street in baby blue, bedazzled Versace.

Elsewhere, a newly honey blonde Ayo Edebiri exited Maximilian Davis’s pre-Met party in full Ferragamo, Pharrell was predictably decked out in head-to-toe Louis Vuitton, Burna Boy was bare-chested in a double-breasted zoot suit, while Rosalía swept the sidewalk in a bulging skirt and slogan tee. Are these all hints to what we might see on the carpet, or red herrings to throw us off the scent? There’s only one way to find out…

Scroll through the gallery above to see all the pre-Met pap walk looks