By JOCELYN NOVECK
Jared Leto was looking for a place to hang his hat. Er, actually his head.
Leto was walking around the cocktail reception at the Met Gala, not long after his big entrance on the carpet as Choupette, designer Karl Lagerfeld’s famous cat, in a full-on white fur suit with very real-looking eyes. Once inside cocktails, it was too hot to keep the whole suit on, but he would not abandon the head.
Some friends wanted to check out the head, carried like a war trophy. Rami Malek, for example, and director Taika Waititi, who tried it on.
But what would happen at dinner? Leto said he was going to “find a nice quiet seat, so that Chou Chou can take a little rest.”
And so it went at the Met Gala, where an Oscar-winning actor carrying a huge cat head seeking a nap still had to compete with lots of other things, and people, and clothes, for attention.
Here are some moments and scenes from inside Monday’s Met Gala:
A LOT TO RECYCLE
As guests entered the Metropolitan Museum’s Great Hall, they passed a towering centerpiece — flanked by an orchestra playing tunes — and then climbed the huge staircase up to the receiving line, with hosts Anna Wintour, Michaela Coel, Penéope Cruz, Dua Lipa and Roger Federer awaiting. Last year, the centerpiece and staircase were carpeted with bright pink roses — 275,000 of them. This time it was recycled water bottles. Met officials estimated the number at 100,000, obtained from a recycling plant — and headed back to a recycling plant. It was the inspiration of exhibit designer Tadao Ando.
REMEMBERING KARL
Often, celebrity guests skip the exhibit and head straight to cocktails. This year, museum officials really wanted them to see the sumptuous show on Lagerfeld — so they helped things along by routing the crowd from the receiving line to the exhibit, with cocktails and dinner down one floor.
The exhibit was indeed more crowded than usual during the gala, and one of the first to visit was Baz Luhrmann. The Australian director had worked with Lagerfeld on a Chanel No. 5 commercial starring Nicole Kidman and had fond memories, saying the designer was constantly working, learning, and creating. He also praised his smarts: “Too often we don’t celebrate the intellect.” He was wearing a high-collared, starched white shirt, part of Lagerfeld’s personal uniform, with his Thom Browne ensemble. He recalled…