Bianca Saunders dresses 8x Grammy winner and R&B vanguard Usher and makes her Met Gala debut. Across Vogue’s The Last Friday in April party, the 2023 Met Gala, and the official after-party, Saunders created five looks highlighting her adept pattern cutting while honouring the late Karl Lagerfeld’s immeasurable legacy.

“As I approached designing for this year’s Met Gala, I looked to Karl’s tailoring and how he masterfully brought worlds together. I was inspired by how he played with the bias cut, his drape work, and how he infused modern culture into traditional spaces. Subversive tailoring is integral to my brand, so throughout this creative process, I channelled Karl’s love of incorporating the unexpected.” - Bianca Saunders.

To kick off the festivities, Saunders wore a lilac two-piece wool suit to Vogue’s The Last Friday in April party. The ultra-fitted jacket has a wide neckline and cap sleeves that twist towards the arm. The sleeve detail connects Saunders’ work to Lagerfeld’s Fendi Spring/Summer 1983 collection. The suit’s wide-legged trousers are tapered at the ankle and curve outward around the leg.

To create Usher’s Met Gala suit, Saunders exaggerated traditional tailoring details and subverted them to new heights. The two-piece wool gabardine suit’s jacket is faintly boxy, has a sunk-in sleeve, and its shoulder seam sits slightly off the body. The rectangular jacket pockets sit directly on the waistline, and the shorter lapel nods to Saunders’ Autumn Winter 2023 collection. The arms are tapered to accommodate the detached sleeves. Underneath the jacket sits a white cotton cuffless shirt and a slim white tie. The pleat in the back of the jacket follows through the vent, a detail found in Saunders’ ready-to-wear. The slim-cut trousers possess a reverse seam, and the pin stitch along the leg accentuates the tailoring details.

For the first Monday in May, Saunders wears a black satin structured reverse blazer dress, twisted at the back, paired with detached white cotton sleeves, with Lagerfeld’s early work at Jean Patou and Lagerfeld Gallery’s Spring/Summer 1996 collection serving as inspiration. At the back of the dress, a lively tension exists in the twist detail in the fabric, evoking the feeling that one is playing with the material- a motif sprinkled throughout Saunders’ work. The spirit of the 1920s is felt in the cinched waist due to the dress’s internal semi-corseting; it then tappers to the leg to expose the ankle completely. The detachable white cotton sleeves are a sartorial nod to Lagerfeld Gallery’s 1996 collection and link Usher’s and Saunders’ Met looks. The back of the dress is reminiscent of the sleeves of Usher’s jacket being twisted and tied in reverse.

Usher’s after-party ensemble was a moment for Saunders to play and infuse womenswear codes into menswear. The iridescent long-sleeve top has a sleeve that curves around the bicep, thus accentuating it and is worn with a riff on Saunders’ shift trousers in grey wool. The trousers have an origami effect as the folds peak through the waistband.

Fluidity is the focal point of Saunders’ after-party dress, and inspiration emerged from the soft bias 1920s tailoring displayed in Chanel’s iconic Spring/Summer 1993 collection. The result is a resplendent black chiffon two-layer bias-cut dress. The bottom layer encompasses the Y detail at the neckline, a signature Saunders motif.

The suit Saunders wore to the Last Friday in April party and two versions of her afterparty dress will be available for pre-order on the brand’s website.