Venus Williams took the crisp white shoe trend into Met Gala weekend on Friday night, arriving with her husband Andrea Preti at Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos’ pre-Gala party in New York City in a pair of bright white mules.
Venus Williams, who wears a pair of white mules, and her husband Andrea Preti seen at Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos Met Gala pre-party at their NoMad apartment on Saturday night.
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Williams’ shoes appeared to be Givenchy’s white leather Lookbook slide heels, though the pair she wore had an all-black insole rather than the more typical Givenchy finish, which often includes a visible Givenchy label or signature on the leather insole. The difference could point to a custom pair or an earlier production run.
Williams’ pair still put the emphasis on a very particular kind of white shoe: closed at the front, squared off at the toe and cut with a smooth vamp that covered the top of the foot. The heel was the detail that kept it from reading like a plain mule. Rather than a straight block or thin stiletto, it was built like a short, tapered column, fuller under the sole, narrowed through the middle and opened slightly again at the floor.
Venus Williams and Andrea Preti seen at Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos Met Gala pre-party at their NoMad apartment on Saturday.
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The tennis superstar wore the mules with Acler’s Evandale maxi dress, a pale cream style printed with soft blue and green florals. Williams kept the white story going with a cropped jacket and a structured top-handle bag.
The party also drew a shoe-heavy crowd ahead of Monday’s carpet. Ashley Graham opted for a strappier pair, gold Gianvito Rossi Manhattan sandals, while Serena Williams chose black pointed flats with a sculptural Magda Butrym minidress. Nicole Kidman, another 2026 Met Gala co-chair, kept to classics with black stilettos with a liquid black tailored look.
A closer look at Venus Williams’ crispy white leather mules.
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Williams has a varied Met Gala footwear history of her own. In 2025, her custom Lacoste look came with heels trimmed in leather pleats and crystal beads. In 2024, she wore silver Gianvito Rossi Portofino 105 sandals with a mirrored Marc Jacobs gown.
The appearance came just days before Williams steps onto the 2026 Met Gala carpet as one of the night’s co-chairs, alongside Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman and Anna Wintour. This year’s Costume Institute exhibition, “Costume Art,” opens May 10 and brings fashion into conversation with artworks from across the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection, with the dressed body at the center of the show.
