With speculation that Doja Cat might arrive at the Met Gala dressed as Karl Lagerfeld’s cat Choupette (who is alive and well), all eyes were on the 27-year-old singer when she arrived at May 1 event in New York City. Doja was one of the many celebs attending the ball benefiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. As one who enjoys a good costume, Doja seemed a perfect fit for the 2023 extravaganza. Not only did she wear cat ears with her white Oscar de la Renta gown, but she wore an actual face prosthetic that made her look even more cat-like. It was giving Eartha Kitt, darling.
In recent months, Doja has been an eye-catching addition to any fashion event. While attending the Schiaparelli Haute Couture show at Paris Fashion Week, she wore 30,000 red Swarovski crystals applied directly to the skin on her face, head, and body. She sported a face covered in a cow print design at New York Fashion Week in September. The following month, she attended the A.W.A.K.E Mode show while covered in gold body paint. There have also been times when Doja’s worn next to nothing, a fashion statement in itself.
Days before the Met Gala, Doja launched a new collaboration with Skechers Uno, which included a commercial that saw Doja Cat go one-on-one with…Doja Cat? The anime-inspired spot saw a pink-and-white Doja fight a green-and-black Doja, representing how there is a Skechers Uno for every mood, moment, and personality. “Building out this campaign and a new world for the Uno with my creative director Bret Alan Nelson and Skechers has been amazing. This is just the start. I look forward to sharing more of what we’ve been creating soon,” Doja said in a statement, per Billboard.
“I was super inspired by the idea of the different Uno colors and which Uno gives you the most power,” she added. “We reference old school anime fight scenes within a battle of ‘Doja Cat vs. Doja Cat,’ and the ultimate theme is that in the end, we will never follow another’s footsteps.”
.@DojaCat chatting with @voguemagazine on the #MetGala red carpet. pic.twitter.com/N2djlYfb97
— The Kittens Room (@TheKittensRoom) May 1, 2023
Skechers also announced Doja as their first artist-in-residence. “Skechers has given me a new canvas to create,” she said in a statement, per Rolling Stone. “I can’t wait to show everyone what we are building.” She kicked off the collaboration at the Time100 Gala, wearing a one-of-a-kind dress made from Skechers Uno sneakers for a performance. Doja, Cierra Boyd of Frisk Me Good, and creative director and stylist Brett Alan Nelson are the credited designers.
“When Skechers asked us to give them a Doja Cat fashion moment, I knew right away I wanted to reach out to brand Frisk Me Good,” said stylist and creative director Brett Alan Nelson, per Rolling Stone. “I designed this look with almost 70 pairs of black Skechers Uno sneakers deconstructed into a performance look for her Time100 performance. There is nothing more punk rock than completely destroying something and making it into something else.”
It was shortly after this that Doja announced her departure from Twitter. “Saw somebody edit hair onto my head for this look I did last night, and it made me mad, so I wanted to let them know they should be making money instead,” she tweeted on Apr. 28. Doja shaved her head in August and went on Live to discuss how she “never liked having hair,” how it felt like she was “never suppose to have hair,” and that shaving her head freed her of a lot of anxiety and societal pressure.
“I’m also aware of the ramifications of the last tweet and that I’ll only be seeing edits of me with hair for the next 4 weeks, so I’ll be logging off / deleting Twitter till my lead [single] comes out,” she said. “Goodbye, everyone. Have a nice time.”