Whether you love or hate celebrity culture, the Met Gala is an event. Those less jaded among us can watch the biggest stars take the year’s boldest fashion risks; Unlike an awards show, it is an event that encourages cutting-edge extravagance. And if all this seems tame to you, then you can laugh at how Ed Sheeran’s outfit looks. something Troy Bolton wore in High School Musical 3.
But this year, the Met Gala was a test.
“Katy Perry. That’s it,” read a post from realistic looking, cascading onto the beige and red carpet of the Met Gala.
If you look at the image for longer than a cursory glance, it’s possible to believe that the “Teenage Dream” singer arrived at fashion’s biggest night in this whimsical dress that looks like a forest. But in all the other Met Gala photos, the carpet was white and green as part of the “Garden of Time” theme; In this photo, it is beige and red. Why does Katy seem to be walking on a different carpet?
That’s the telltale sign that this viral image of Perry is fake. And yet, she already has over 10 million views on X and over 300,000 likes.
Minutes later, another X user posted another image of Perry. Her lips are slightly parted as if the paparazzi surprised her and she is wearing a bronze corset that looks like a key to a garden. Unlike the first image, this one actually has the right color palette and setting for this year’s gala, but something still feels off. Her floral skirt appears cut and glued to her body, and the light hits her corset in an unnatural way.
So how do you know it’s fake and not a weird photo? No fashion magazine has reported on Katy Perry’s look tonight; It doesn’t look like she’ll be attending this year. Meanwhile, Perry cryptically liked both viral tweets, but she did not comment on the misleading posts.
Every year at the Met Gala, Rihanna is among the best dressed. In the days leading up to the event, she promised fans that she would arrive at the event in time for dinner; She is usually very late to fashion. She even she dyed her hair pink for the occasion.
At the front end of the red carpet, an image of Rihanna appeared in a dramatically regal garden-themed dress. Her shoulders swell, forming a sculptural halo, embroidered with birds, vines and flowers. But again, despite getting 2.6 million views, the image is not real. Rihanna dyed her hair pink, remember? Like Perry, Rihanna is nowhere to be seen. People Magazine reported that Rihanna had to miss Monday night’s festivities after contracting the flu.
The consequences of a fake Rihanna dress are quite minor. But based on Rihanna’s story of Nailing the Met Gala themeWould you really take the easy way out and wear a floral dress to the “Garden of Time” celebration? As a Drake song deepfake with AI, these synthetic looks were too flashy and lacked the creativity that makes the Met Gala unique. Could an AI create Cynthia Erivo’s? shiny suitor Lana Del Rey’s spooky and cool woody look?
Zendaya, an early favorite for best dressed, appeared in a relatively teal-blue outfit that makes her look like a super-chic fairy tale villain. Hours later, when an image of Zendaya wearing a black leather dress and a floral headpiece appeared on the carpet, I was prepared to believe it was another fake photo. But the truth is stranger: after five years away from the gala, Zendaya actually walked the carpet twice in two different suits. Go figure.
Still, each new celebrity image served as a call to revisit the patterns on the carpet, the flowers along the stair railings, and whether or not the paparazzi in the background look a little funky. Typically, the Met Gala is an opportunity to chat about extravagant celebrity outfits as a brief distraction from our unglamorous Monday nights. But in the era of widespread generative AI tools, celebrity culture serves as a constant reminder that we can’t believe everything we see online.