Lindsey Vonn in Gucci at the LACMA gala: purple sequins and sheer black tights

Purple sequins from the shoulder to the floor, a slit up the right leg to the hip, and in the slit, sheer black. That is how Lindsey Vonn arrived at the LACMA Art+Film Gala in Los Angeles on Saturday 7 November 2026, dressed head to toe in Gucci. The tights are the detail that keeps a slit that high from looking like a dare: here is what we know about them, and how to wear the same idea to a party.

The night: LACMA's gala, presented by Gucci

The Art+Film Gala is the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's yearly fundraiser, and 2026 was its fifteenth edition, held among the street lamps of Chris Burden's Urban Light. Gucci presents it and dresses a long guest list; this year the honourees were the artist Vija Celmins and the filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, according to Red Carpet Fashion Awards. Vonn was not the only one in sheer black that night: Rosé, the evening's musical guest, arrived in a black velvet Saint Laurent dress with a thigh-high slit and sheer black tights, a look we added to our piece on Rosé's tights.

The next evening Vonn posted fourteen photos with the caption "Last night in heels for a while… had to make it count", and a thank-you to Demna and Gucci. On 9 November she announced that she was going into her ninth surgery, after the crash she suffered at the Milano Cortina Olympics in February.

The look, from top to toe

• The dress: Gucci, a column gown covered in large round sequins, with one long sleeve and the other shoulder bare. Footwear News calls it royal purple; under the lamps it shifts towards midnight blue, which is how Red Carpet Fashion Awards described it. The slit opens on the right leg and, as HELLO! put it, starts at the hip.
• The tights: sheer black, from the hip to the toe, visible in every photo where the slit opens.
• The shoes: black Gucci pumps with a pointed toe, a stiletto heel and the gold horsebit across the vamp (Footwear News).
• The rest: a steel watch, soft waves and a smoky eye (HELLO!).

The tights: what we know and what we don't

• Credited: no. Vonn's post tags only Gucci, Gucci's own gala posts had not shown her look by 9 November, and none of the articles we read names the brand.
• Mentioned: SI Swimsuit writes that she wore "sheer, black tights underneath"; CelebMafia mentions them too and calls them the "more divisive choice" of the look.
• Our reading of the photos: matte, not glossy, with the skin showing through on the knee and shin. That puts them around 15 to 20 denier. The toe disappears inside the pump, so we cannot see whether it is reinforced.
• Not known: the stylist, the collection and the look number. None of them is credited in the coverage we found.

If the numbers are new to you, our guide to how to choose denier explains the scale.

Why it works

A slit to the hip in sequins asks the bare leg to compete with the dress. Sheer black stops the competition: it turns the leg into a dark line that runs from the hip into a black shoe, so the slit reads as part of the dress's cut rather than as an opening. It is the same move as Demna's runway at Gucci spring/summer 2027, where short suits came with black tights and pointed pumps, moved to a floor-length evening gown. The horsebit pumps finish the line, and Gucci gets its logo where the eye lands last.

How to wear it for a party

• Matte, 15 to 20 denier. With sequins, the tights should not shine too: one source of light is enough. A satin or glossy pair turns the leg into another surface competing with the dress.
• Black on black at the foot. A black pointed pump, as Vonn's, keeps the line unbroken from hip to toe. Avoid strappy sandals, which cut it at the ankle.
• A long slit or a long sleeve, not much else. The look works because it is simple: one dress, one colour of tights, one shoe. Leave the glitter to the dress, or to glitter tights if the dress is plain.
• Dark jewel colours. Purple, midnight blue, bottle green and burgundy sequins all take sheer black well. With silver or gold sequins, sheer black still works; nude tights tend to look unfinished at night.
• Check the slit before you leave. Sit down once at home: on a slit this high, the tights are what makes sitting easy.

For more evenings where sheer black did the work, see Elizabeth Debicki and Emmy Rossum on the red carpet.

The photos

The three photos are official Getty Images embeds from the gala: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic (at the top), John Shearer/Getty Images for LACMA and Matt Winkelmeyer/FilmMagic. The Instagram post is embedded from Lindsey Vonn's official account. The circle on the cover shows Lindsey Vonn at the Laureus World Sports Awards in Madrid in 2024 (Barcex, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons), not the night of this article.

One dress, one pair of sheer black tights, one shoe: at a gala of sequins, Vonn's leg was the quietest line on the carpet.