Jared Leto’s first outfit at the 2023 Met Gala on Monday night (1 May) was a giant costume of Choupette, the late Karl Lagerfeld’s beloved cat.
But it appears the feline, to whom the German fashion designer left part of his fortune to when he died in 2019, was not very impressed by the actor’s tribute to her.
Leto’s costume replicated the long-haired, cream-coloured Birman cat’s likeness, complete with a giant removable head bearing her piercing blue eyes.
He arrived at the Met Gala red carpet in the costume, before removing it to reveal an entirely different all-black outfit underneath.
Choupette’s agent, Lucas Berullier from My Pet Agency, said that while he thought Leto’s outfit was “definitely good”, it was not Choupette’s favourite look from the evening.
“I don’t think it was her favourite in the way that Choupette doesn’t like rivals,” he told Insider. “She’s very fierce. She’s very competitive. She’s very much like Karl.”
Berullier believes that if Choupette had seen Leto in his costume in person, the kitty would have “snubbed” him.
“She’d pretend that [Leto] doesn’t matter, that he’s not relevant because he’s not the real Choupette,” he added.
Doja Cat also wore a cat-inspired outfit to the Met Gala, complete with facial prosthetics to make her features look more like a feline. However, it appeared Choupette did not comment on the look.
One of Choupette’s favourite looks of the night, according to Berullier, was Kim Kardashian’s, because they had a “strong connection” during their “date” last week in Paris.
Kardashian wrote about the encounter on her Instagram when she visited Lagerfeld’s office to “get a little inspiration for the Met”.
The SKIMS mogul was draped in pearls in an outfit designed by Shiaparelli’s creative director, Daniel Roseberry.
Berullier also said that Lagerfeld himself would have been tickled by all the tributes to his dear cat.
“I think he would’ve been proud and very emotional to see that the world could be touched by an animal, the same way that he was touched by an animal,” he said.
Choupette originally belonged to model Baptiste Giabiconi, who got her when she was seven months old in 2012. Giabiconi, who was Lagerfeld’s muse at the time, asked the designer to help look after Choupette that Christmas.
Lagerfeld became very attached to the kitten, with Giabiconi noting that the designer became “angry” when he returned to collect her. They changed ownership shortly after when the model said it “became clear to me that Choupette brought Karl great joy”.
