Burning love! Austin Butler and girlfriend Kaia Gerber made a stylish — and rare — appearance at the 2023 Vanity Fair Oscar Party.
The Elvis actor, 31, ditched his classic Saint Laurent tuxedo for a second look from the fashion house at the Los Angeles bash on Sunday, March 12, pairing a silk shirt with a black jacket. Gerber, 21, opted for a sparkling silver Celine dress with a high slit.
The couple celebrated at the iconic afterparty despite Butler’s Best Actor loss — The Whale‘s Brendan Fraser went home with the trophy — at the 95th annual Academy Awards. Elvis earned a total of eight nods at the ceremony, including Best Picture and Best Director for Baz Luhrmann, but the film failed to pick up any wins.
Before Gerber joined him at the Vanity Fair bash, Butler walked the Oscars red carpet solo. When asked why his girlfriend didn’t escort him at the Dolby Theatre, the Carrie Diaries alum explained that he wanted to enjoy the night with longtime pal James Farrell.
“I’ve got my best friend here with me, who is also my agent,” he told Ashley Graham, who cohosted ABC’s pre-show with Butler’s ex Vanessa Hudgens. “And I owe my career to him, so as a thank you, I wanted him to be by my side tonight.”
One day before the awards show, Gerber attended the premiere of her film Bottoms at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas.
Us Weekly confirmed the duo’s relationship in December 2021 following the model’s split from Euphoria‘s Jacob Elordi. At the time, a source exclusively revealed that the pair’s romance was “still very new.”
Three months later, Butler and the California native were spotted leaving W Magazine‘s pre-Oscars party together. They made their red carpet debut as a couple at the Met Gala in May 2022, posing for photos at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The twosome have kept their relationship relatively out of the spotlight. During a GQ interview published in May 2022, Butler declined to speak about his personal life. “I don’t think there’s anything I want to share about that,” he said of his romance with Gerber. “But thank you for providing the space.”
When it came to his split from Hudgens — Us broke the news in January 2019 that the actors called it quits after nearly nine years — Butler was equally as coy. “Life is full of changes, and you’ve got to find a way to constantly be evolving and growing,” he told the outlet.
While the Dune: Part Two star was a fixture on the red carpet this awards season, Gerber rarely joined him in front of the cameras. Butler won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama in January and packed on the PDA with his girlfriend to celebrate the milestone after the show.
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