Met Gala 2023: Blake Lively will not be attending the first Monday of May

Actress Blake Lively arrives at The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo / Getty Images

Blake Lively will not be attending the 2023 Met Gala.

The 35-year-old actress has appeared on the red carpet at the glitzy event - which is set up by Vogue editor Anna Wintour and features the biggest A-List celebrities arriving in high-end fashion pieces - multiple times over the course of her career but confirmed that she will be watching from her sofa when this year’s gathering takes place on Monday, May 1.

Upon being complimented on last year’s look - which comprised an Atelier Versace copper gown and matching gloves - she was asked by reporters if they would see her make an appearance this time round, and said: “You will not! Thank you, that’s very sweet. I’ll be wearing that on my couch on Monday.”

Lively - who made her first appearance at the Met Gala in 2008 - shot to fame in her early 20s when she was cast in the hit drama series Gossip Girl and revealed that last year’s outfit was a nod to the show that kickstarted her career.

At the time, she told Vogue: “Grand Central felt like a sort of really neat full-circle moment because [in] the first shot of Gossip Girl, I’m on a train and I pull into the station, and it’s a shot of Grand Central station.

But the nods to New York didn’t stop there. Blake revealed to Live From E! that the design on her bodice was inspired by the Empire State Building, and that her jewelled tiara was a reference to the Statue of Liberty’s crown.

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds attend the Met Gala last year. Photo / Getty Images

“I arrived in copper and then it patinaed to a green,” she said while gesturing to the bodice of the dress, adding, “This is architecture from the Empire State Building. Lots of little references.”

Lively even requested a different-coloured gem on her crown for every window on the Statue of Liberty.

“She has 25 windows, so I was like, Lorraine [Schwartz], can you put 25 stones?” Lively revealed to Vogue. “She’s like, ‘Who’s gonna be counting the stones?’ I was like, ‘Me. I’m a Virgo.’”

The event - which is known in showbusiness as “fashion’s biggest night out” - will this year follow a theme titled Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty in honour of the late industry legend and it has been confirmed that the likes of Hilton heiress Paris Hilton, as confirmed by Page Six, as well as pop star Dua Lipa, actress Penelope Cruz and reality superstar Kim Kardashian have all received invitations.