Kim Kardashian, Pete Davidson both attend the 2023 Met Gala, photographed speaking inside

Kim Kardashian turned heads and raised eyebrows at last year's Met Gala in Marilyn Monroe's vintage dress, joined by then-boyfriend Pete Davidson. This year, she arrived solo in a more toned-down look – though she and Davidson did share a moment speaking inside the party with Usher.

Kardashian, 42, wore a custom Schiaparelli ensemble, blending a nude bra and miniskirt with draped rows of pearls. "I feel like Karl was always super glamorous and you'd see a lot of pearls," she told USA TODAY of her look.

The theme "Karl Lagerfeld: A Life of Beauty," is set to honor the late fashion designer, who photographed Kardashian in her very first fashion shoot in 2013 for CR Fashion Book.

"The world is so much chicer because you existed," she wrote in an Instagram tribute in 2019. "I am beyond honored to have me you and had the opportunity to work with you."

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The reality star, entrepreneur and hopeful lawyer attended fashion's biggest night last year with then-boyfriend Davidson. The two have since split up − as referenced in the first trailer for the upcoming season of "The Kardashians," which dropped last week − but Davidson made an appearance of his own this year.

The former "SNL" comedian, 29, wore a Fendi look, complete with plum dress pants, a colorful t-shirt and black trench coat along with his signature red carpet sunglasses and a black bucket hat.

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Kardashian's younger sisters, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, later joined her on the carpet: Kylie in a red Jean Paul Gaultier gown with a playful one-shoulder cutout and thigh-high slit; Kendall in a custom Marc Jacobs sequined black onesie with a silver glitter collar and train-length sleeves.

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Kim Kardashian's controversial 2022 Marilyn Monroe tribute

Last year, all six of the most famous women in the Kardashian-Jenner family presented a united front at the Met Gala just hours after being handed a victory in Blac Chyna's defamation lawsuit trial. Kim, Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian, plus Kylie, Kendall and Kris Jenner all attended in 2022. Only Kim, Kylie and Kendall are expected to hit the Met steps this year.

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For the 2022 theme, "In America: An Anthology of Fashion," the red carpet was all about Gilded Glamour. Kim borrowed the original skin-tight, sparkling Bob Mackie dress that Marilyn Monroe wore to sing "Happy Birthday" to President John F. Kennedy, nearly 60 years to the day after the iconic actress first did. The figure-hugging nude dress, which contains more than 2,500 handstitched crystals, was sold at auction to Ripley’s Believe It or Not for nearly $5 million in 2016. The reality TV star told Vogue that she had to lose 16 pounds to fit into the dress.

Davidson went with a plain black Dior tux, sunglasses and custom Or & Elle cufflinks. "(Kim) didn't let me wear my propeller hat, but it's fine," the comedian lamented.

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Kardashian later faced backlash for both allegedly damaging the dress and for perpetuating unsafe ideas about weight loss. Ripley's later said in a statement that Kardashian “did not, in any way, damage the garment in the short amount of time it was worn at the Met Gala." And Kardashian defended her weight loss in an interview with The New York Times: "To me it was like, ‘OK, Christian Bale can do it for a movie role and that is acceptable.’ Even Renée Zellweger gained weight for a role. It’s all the same to me," Kardashian said.

Kardashian has attended every Met Gala since 2013, often with ex-husband Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. Ye has not attended since 2019.

Contributing: Anika Reed

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kim Kardashian, Pete Davidson, Kylie, Kendall Jenner at Met Gala 2023