The actress arrived at Monday evening’s Met Gala in a shimmering black Miu Miu dress, an homage to Kim Novak of Vertigo fame.
Sweeney’s choice of gown echoes a similar dress, complete with a round neckline and decorative brooch, that Novak wore in the 1967 Robert Aldrich film, The Legend of Lylah Clare. Novak’s dress itself was a nod to the glittering gown and brooch worn by in The Bride Wore Red (1937).
Sweeney hinted at her inspiration beforehand, posting a photo of Novak on her Instagram stories. She is slated to portray Novak in the forthcoming drama, Scandalous. This film marks the directorial debut of , a Met Gala co-chair, and centers on the 1950s affair between Novak and singer , set against the backdrop of the Jim Crow era.
This year’s Met Gala celebrates the debut of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2025 costume exhibition focusing on , and Essence Davis, described as “the embodiment of Black dandyism.”
Davis and Novak’s meeting occurred on The Steve Allen Show, where they were both guests. Captivated by Novak, Davis visited the set of Vertigo, offering to take her photograph. According to Laurence Leamer’s recent Hitchcock’s Blondes, Novak playfully questioned Davis while he was taking close-up shots, asking, “‘Did you ever think of taking off the lens cover?’”
As TIME reported, Harry Cohn, the head of Columbia Pictures, ended “the romance of Sammy Davis Jr. and Kim Novak by having a thug threaten to work Sammy over.” Cohn feared that movie theaters would refuse to screen a film featuring a white actress romantically involved with a Black man.
Davis ultimately wed chorus girl in 1958, while Novak married actor Richard Johnson in 1965.
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