Comeback queen! Anne Hathaway made a splash — and sizzled in white — on the 2023 Met Gala red carpet after taking a five-year hiatus from the event.
The 40-year-old actress wore wore a custom Atelier Versace tweed gown on Monday, May 1, during her return to the Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York City. The all-white ensemble gave a nod to the late designer with the fabric choice, use of gold safety pin details and cutouts. Hathaway added some edge to the mermaid silhouette with a sexy slit that ran from the bodice down to her leg, which showed off some skin.
“I work with an amazing team,” the actress told Vogue of how she picked her textured look, which came with a matching jacket and custom gloves. “I’m just a lucky girl.”
The Princess Diaries star was last in attendance for fashion’s biggest night in May 2018 when she donned a Valentino blood red ballgown for the “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” theme.
“When it arrived, it was one of those great moments when a dress actually looks better off the runway and in real life,” stylist Penny Lovell told Vogue of the dress at the time. “With Anne’s skin tone and her hair color, it had a real sense of drama.”
Lovell noted that the Les Misérables actress “really loves that there’s a theme. She thinks about it, she gets into it. It’s always so special for her.”
Hathaway, for her part, gushed over her past experiences during a May 2019 appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
“I have a great time. I love it. It’s one of those moments where you’re like, ‘Nobody gets this. Nobody gets to do this and see the Met after hours,’” she said at the time, confessing, “It is the bougiest thing ever. But, again, that’s part of the fun too.”
The WeCrashed alum then pointed out that host Anna Wintour “does a great job” and “turns it out” every year. “It raises a lot of money for a great cause. It’s amazing,” she added.
The New York native — who also appeared in the 2018 Met-Gala heist-themed movie, Ocean’s 8 — skipped the 2019 event amid her second pregnancy. In July of that year, Hathaway announced that she and husband Adam Shulman were expecting baby No. 2, whom they welcomed in fall 2019.
The She Came to Me star, who shares sons Jonathan, 7, and Jack, 3, with Shulman, 42, has since opted to forgo the lavish fashion night out in both 2021 and 2022. (The 2020 Met Gala was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.)
Hathaway, however, hasn’t stopped turning heads in the wardrobe department or on the red carpet. In March, the Oscar winner continued to push the boundaries with her style — with help from her longtime stylist Erin Walsh — while attending the Versace fall/winter 2023 show in Los Angeles wearing a crocodile leather frock, black tights and edgy boots.
“Erin sees my idiosyncrasies as a strength … Maybe there was initial confusion with me because I was introduced to the world as a teenaged princess, but I never actually connected to things that are ‘sweet’ and ‘pretty’ — no shade at all for those wonderful options,” the Intern actress told the Hollywood Reporter for its 25 Most Powerful Stylist issue published in March. “I love the right risk.”
The following month, Hathaway showed off her personality once again as the new face of Versace’s Icons collection.
“To me, the Versace Icons collection is timeless elegance with an edge,” the Dark Knight Rises star said in an April press release. “I’m so proud of these images, which seem to represent Donatella Versace’s vision of empowerment.”
Scroll down to see Hathaway’s 2023 Met Gala ensemble:
