Why Katy Perry wore a mask to Met Gala as divisive look sparks confusion
Katy Perry never seems far away from the headlines recently, be that traveling to space, smooching with boyfriend former Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, or even locking horns in a court conflict with a pair of nuns.
It's been a busy few years for the pop superstar.
Perry has, without a doubt, tattooed herself into pop music history, thanks to classics like 'California Gurls,' 'Firework,' and 'Teenage Dream,' but some of her fashion choices over the years have raised eyebrows.
In 2013, she raised quite a few eyebrows after opening the American Music Awards by styling herself as a Geisha girl for a performance of 'Unconditionally', with many left asking whether the outfit choice was racist.
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In 2019, she was in hot water again over a shoe design from her Katy Perry Collection line.
The shoes, which came as sandals and loafers, were black and designed with a face featuring prominent red lips.
After the internet raged over the design choices, which allegedly resembled 'blackface', they were swiftly removed from the collection.
And her fashion choices are once again under the spotlight, with the internet divided on what last night's Met Gala outfit was all about.
Perry returned to the Met Gala for the first time since 2022, wearing a white mask with a silver face plate. The headpiece, made by Miodrag Guberinic, linked up perfectly with her custom Stella McCartney outfit. But it has left many wondering, why?
Katy Perry's Met Gala outfit
Elle reported that Perry's outfit 'poked fun at the AI images of her attending previous Met Galas', with her getting involved in the joke.
And to be honest, good for her to be able to take a joke in good form.
Her gloves for the evening had six fingers, a reference to a common AI hallucination when reproducing images.
Reports state that she teamed up with artist @sailkatycat to bounce around ideas of her look before the big event.
According to a press release from Katy Perry shared via PEOPLE, the mask was "Designed to be a literal and symbolic reflection that invites the observer to consider that their perception of others can mirror their own internal world, and conversely mask truth."
Perry's walk up the 'red' carpet including a theatrical and mystical flourish, as she drew The Magician tarot card, which said 'commitment to the bit' on the back of it.
The Magician represents manifestation, willpower, resourcefulness, and the ability to turn ideas into reality, according to Tarot Cake. Well there you go.
The train of the dress, which was made from Italian dead-stock duchess satin, appeared to tease her next single on it, called 'Watch it Burn'.
What are people saying about Katy Perry's Met Gala outfit
One user commented on X: "I thought Katy Perry's look was simply GENIAL: her wearing a 6-fingered glove and a mask on her face to criticize the confusion that's being caused between reality and artificial intelligence."
Another said: "How will celebs ever be taken seriously when they wear the dumbest outfits like this. I’m dying that it’s Katy Perry pretending she’s astronaut now."
Well to be fair, she was technically an astronaut for about 15 minutes. Someone else praised Perry's 'unhinged' energy, saying: "Nobody does unhinged Met Gala lore better than Katy Perry and I will not be taking questions."
And they are right. In 2017, Perry made headlines again at the Met Gala, where she dressed up as a cheeseburger. She also dressed in a stunning candelabra dress in 2019.
She missed last year's event as she was on tour.
Met Gala 2026 theme explained
We’ve seen some truly bonkers Met Gala looks in the past, but the celebs who attend are actually given a dress code, as well as an invitation to tailor their outfits to the event’s theme.
The Met Gala doubles as a launch event for the Costume Institute's spring exhibition, and the theme is generally aligned with that, along with a slightly more open-to-interpretation dress code.
This year’s theme is ‘Costume Art’, to tie in with a Costume Institute exhibition, which pairs paintings and sculptures with historical and contemporary clothes.
It looks to deal with ‘the centrality of the dressed body in the museum’s vast collection’.
The dress code is a bit more vague: Fashion is Art.
To me, that is even more anxiety-inducing than ‘smart-casual’. British Vogue says the dress code ‘encourages attendees to consider the many ways that designers use the body as their blank canvas’.
Previous themes and dress code have included:
2025
Theme: Superfine: Tailoring Black Style
Dress code: Tailored for You
2024
Theme: Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion
Dress code: The Garden of Time
2023
Theme: Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty
Dress code: In honor of Karl
Topics: Katy Perry, Met Gala, Fashion, Celebrity
Thomas Bamford