Regina King stunned in a gold shimmery gown at the 2019 Met Gala on Monday night. Her look paid tribute to Nina Mae McKinney, who was widely regarded as the first black actress considered to be a movie star in the late 1920s.
King shared a picture on Instagram Monday that featured a vision board of sorts, with photos of McKinney surrounded by sketches and fabric. Her gown was designed by Oscar de la Renta.
“The look is inspired by Nina Mae McKinney, an American actor from the 1930s who got her start on Broadway and starred in the film ‘Hallelujah,’” Oscar de la Renta’s house co-designers Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim told Vanity Fair.
“Hallelujah,” a 1929 musical directed by King Vidor, was Hollywood’s first all-sound major studio musical with an all-black cast, The New York Times reported. McKinney, who appeared on Broadway and in a number of films throughout her career, played the character Chick in “Hallelujah.” She died in 1967 at age 54.
The Academy Award-winning actress, who was recently named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people of the year, told Vanity Fair ahead of the gala that she hoped she wouldn’t “get lost in the shuffle” at the big event. This year’s gala’s theme was “camp,” inspired by Susan Sontag’s 1964 essay “Notes on ‘Camp.’”
It’s clear the “If Beale Street Could Talk” star’s entrance to the Met Gala certainly didn’t go unnoticed in the shuffle Monday evening — people have been celebrating the actress’ awe-inspiring look on social media since: