Hailey Bieber showcased her stunning legs as she left The Carlyle Hotel, making her way to the Met Gala afterparty at Casa Cipriani in New York City on Monday. Her husband, Justin Bieber, chose to stay home to watch ice hockey instead.

The model, 28, showed off her incredible physique in a gold figure-hugging corset mini dress, teamed with peep-toe heels. 

She accessorised with a tiny rhinestone handbag and silver jewellery, while her long brunette tresses were styled in a glamorous blowdry. 

Earlier that evening, Hailey appeared quite somber while attending the Met Gala without Justin, marking her return to the prestigious event four years after being heckled by fans of Justin’s ex, Selena Gomez.

She looked stoic as she hit up the red carpet solo while flashing her legs in a Saint Laurent mini blazer dress.

The mother-of-one paired her looked with platform peep toe heels and glittering jewelry while sporting heavy contour.

The star was making her return to fashion’s biggest night after a three year absence while husband Justin, 31, remained in LA and enjoyed a night of sports instead.

He shared a video showing him relaxing at home while watching playoff hockey captioned: ‘1 down @mapleleafs.’ 

There’s heavy speculation that her brief absence from the Met Galas was due to the bullying she was rumored to have endured during the 2021 event.

It was rumored that Bieber was crying on the 2021 Met Gala red carpet when she attended with Justin.

The ‘crying’ was said to be brought on by fans heckling Bieber, chanting Selena Gomez’s name at her.

In fact, Bieber was allegedly so ‘upset’ that she kept her sunglasses on the entire night.

Bieber, who later appeared on the Call Her Daddy podcast revealed that while the chanting definitely bothered her, she wasn’t exactly crying.

‘I felt like I had something in my eye,’ she said to Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper in an attempt to dismiss the speculation.

And as for the sunglasses, she said it was always meant to be part of her look.

Though she did note that the chanting she heard was ‘disrespectful’ to her and her relationship.

But Bieber said she had a mantra that helped keep her grounded: ‘Another day, another negative slay,’ she told Cooper.

The Met Gala 2025 co-chairs are Anna Wintour, Pharrell Williams, Lewis Hamilton, Colman Domingo, and A$AP Rocky.

LeBron James served as an honorary co-chair this year.

According to biographer Amy Odell, ‘militant’ host Anna Wintour controls every aspect of the guest list, ultimately deciding who is ‘in’ and who is ‘out.’

Kanye West hasn’t been invited since 2022, when Met Gala director Anna vowed to never work with him again after his anti-Semitic rants.

And even before that, he was a habitual Met Gal skipper – his last appearance was actually in 2019 when he attended with his then wife Kim Kardashian.

Earlier this year Kanye seemed to suggest he might crash the Met Gala 2025 after he shared a sketch to X depicting a figure clad in gloves and boots.

Recently Radar Online claimed that Anna was taking the matter seriously after an insider told the publication: ‘Anna is not messing around. There’s a full protocol in place if Kanye is spotted anywhere near the carpet.

‘It’s not just about the outfit – it’s about the chaos he brings. After what happened at the Grammys, no one’s taking chances.’

They added: ‘Anna has made it clear – no drama on her carpet.’

Donald Trump is also very much not welcome at the event with some cultural commentators even remarking that the theme feels very pointed after Trump’s appointment as President.

Emil Wilbekin, assistant professor in the marketing communication department at the Fashion Institute of Technology explained the cultural significance of this year’s theme saying it feels like a ‘resistance’.

He said: ‘With the ‘Superfine’ exhibition happening in this era of [Donald] Trump and anti-DEI, the rolling back of civil rights bills, laws and policies, here comes this exhibition that’s celebrating the very thing being rolled back. It’s a very high and very intellectual form of resistance.’

Anna herself confirmed that he was banned back in 2017 after she told James Corden on an episode of The Late Late Show that he was the one person she would never invite back to the Met Gala.

Trump’s last appearance at The Met Gala with wife Melania was in 2012.

Sex And The City star Sarah Jessica Parker also opted out of the event this year due to work commitments.

Since her first attendance in 1995 the actress, 60, has been a regular at the annual New York fashion event.

Confirming she won’t be able to fit it in her calendar this year she told Entertainment Tonight: ‘I have to work… but there’s gonna be so much to see and I look forward to seeing what everybody does.

‘And I can’t wait to see how they interpret the theme and the sort of homework they did for the assignment.’

The annual invite-only event has a theme each year, with this year’s theme as ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,’ inspired by Monica Miller’s work, which includes her book Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity.

Monica is the chair of Africana Studies at Barnard College, as well as a professor at the institute.

According to Monica, black dandyism is ‘a strategy and a tool to rethink identity, to reimagine the self in a different context. To really push a boundary – especially during the time of enslavement, to really push a boundary on who and what counts as human, even,’ via Vogue.

The 2025 gala theme focuses on menswear, 22 years after the ‘Men In Skirts’ theme – which was the first gala to focus only on menswear. 

The Met Gala 2025 was co-chaired by Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky, Colman Domingo, Pharrell Williams and Anna Wintour, with Lebron James as the honorary chair.