How Tems Referenced Chanel Archival Looks For 2023 Met Gala Dress

Tems is slowly becoming high fashion’s favourite girl, and she owes it to her star girl image, immaculate carriage, and of course, her team – especially her long-time stylist, Dunsin Wright. So when news got out that she would be making her Met Gala debut last night, everyone was excited.

In 2023, she hit two major red carpets and slayed through the events. Her gold corseted Vivienne Westwood dress for the 2023 Oscars was one for the books, one month after she followed it with a Lever Couture dress for the 2023 Grammys – the dress caused so much controversy that she trended worldwide for its extravagance.

For the Met Gala, we were expecting as much greatness as we’ve seen in recent times, and she indeed delivered with the help of Hong Kong-born designer Robert Wun; her long-time stylist Dunsin Wright and fashion archivist and image researcher Kim Russell. Tems honoured Karl Lagerfeld in style.

The purpose of the Met Gala is to show off designer’s works and expand the bounds of creativity within the theme given. With the theme being in honour of Karl Lagerfeld, wearing an archival Chanel dress would have been appropriate but not groundbreaking or Met Gala-worthy. The key to groundbreaking Met Gala outfits is the custom reimaginations designers make to the theme.

Certain stars did not get it, from Chanel’s girl Jennie Kim to American actress Olivia Wilde. Is the outfit cute? Yes, but is it Met Gala worthy? No! This is one thing Tems’ team did not fall victim to.

“Dunsin Wright opened her heart and let me experience my first, her first, and Tems’ first Met Gala. I got to research archives and references for this project, which is what got my name out there in the first place,” Kim Russell said in a tweet on her contribution to the final dress.

She referenced Karl Lagerfeld’s Spring ‘92 Chanel Couture, a collection whose influence went beyond the runway to influence pop culture. She referenced the black and white cocktail dresses and wide-brim hats while infusing some elements from the Chanel Haute Couture 1988.

These elements became the groundwork used by Dunsin Wright and Kim Russell to create Tems’ dress, designed by Robert Wun. Although there were Karl Lagerfeld-inspired elements, Robert Wun added his flair to it – the exact way referencing should be done.