21 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About Some Of The Most Stunning Met Gala Looks From This Year
1.Zendaya's first look was a blue gown by Maison Margiela's John Galliano, with a headpiece by Stephen Jones for Margiela, according to Vogue. The dress included several incredible elements, including a hand-embroidered corsage. The dress itself was made up of sage lamé and organza bias-cut, which was worn over the corset.
According to Vogue, the dress was completely on theme with the Garden of Time dress code, which "encouraged guests to slip into thematic fashions that paid tribute to the natural world." The publication said the dress was "reminiscent of the ocean."
2.Meanwhile, Zendaya's second look of the evening was a never-before-worn vintage Givenchy couture from its spring 1996 collection, according to Vogue. It was included in one of only two collections John Galliano designed for Givenchy. And, the flower bouquet headpiece was from Alexander McQueen's spring 2007 collection by Philip Treacy.
3.Tyla's stunning Balmain sand dress was a nod to the sands of time. The dress was made with "three colors of sand and mixed with micro crystal studs," according to Vogue. The dress was so form-fitting that Tyla had to be carried up each step at the Met.
The creative director of Balmain, Olivier Rousteing, told Vogue, "The inspiration behind this creation stemmed from a desire to redefine boundaries and transform a transient material into an everlasting masterpiece." He also said that it played into the night's theme of "fleeting beauty" as it can only be worn once and by Tyla.
Once inside the Met, the dress was cut shorter, too.
4.Lewis Hamilton showed up in a Burberry suit by Daniel Lee. Lewis explained he did a lot of research on the theme, which led him to be inspired by an 18th-century gardener named John Ystumllyn, who was the first Black gardener in Wales. The inside of the jacket also included a poem by Alex Wharton, a poet who was inspired by John Ystumllyn as well.
The end of Alex Wharton's "The Gardener," which was embroidered inside Lewis's jacket, reads:
"I hope the sun pours
light upon our skin. And we
melt into each other,
into everything. Maybe the trees
will speak, as they sometimes do.
Whispers from the shade."
Lewis also explained the thorn jewelry near the collar of his ensemble was "really to show the pain through the slavery trade at the time." He added, "I tried to get in deep."
5.Gigi Hadid wore a custom Thom Browne dress, which included 3D yellow rose embroidered details. According to the brand, the white dress alone had 2.8 million micro bugle beads, and it took 20 people 5,000 hours to embroider the dress. The skirt alone took 40 people, a total of 8,500 hours.
In total, there were over 70 people involved in the making of the dress.
Speaking about the dress and how hard it was to walk up the Met Gala steps in the ensemble, Gigi told Vogue, "I am literally wearing a sculpture by Thom Browne and his team. 2,800,000 beads just on the dress alone." She also shouted out the amount of people who worked on the dress, adding, "I'm just so honored to be here presenting this for them. I think that's what this is all about, being able to celebrate creativity together."
6.Ariana Grande wore a dress by Loewe, with the top corset being constructed out of real mother of pearl. On the red carpet, Ariana explained that it's also coincidentally her birthstone.
Speaking about the dress, Ariana told Vogue, "I loved the tie-in of the opal essence of the little hues of pink and green, of course, for Glinda's bubble, and for Wicked."
7.Alia Bhatt arrived at the Met Gala this year in a stunning handcrafted, custom-made sari by Sabyasachi. The outfit consisted of a 23-foot-long train made up of glass beading and semi-precious gemstones to make the floral detailing, according to Vogue. Alia also said it took 1,905 hours to make, with 163 people working on the handmaid sari.
Speaking about how the sari tied into the Garden of Time theme, Alia told Vogue, "The sari's design, with its translucent, glass-like appearance, is not just a nod to the ethereal quality of the garden in Ballard's story but also a tribute to the exquisite, enduring craft of sari-making."
8.Colman Domingo's custom Willy Chavarria outfit paid tribute to Chadwick Boseman and fashion journalist André Leon Talley. "They both wore capes when they were at the Met. Everything I do, I feel like it's gotta be for the culture. It's gotta be more than just for me," he explained.
Notably, Chadwick Boseman wore a Versace outfit to the 2018 Met Gala, aka "Heavenly Bodies," which included a white cape.
Chadwick sadly passed away in 2020, while André died in 2022.
9.For Lily Gladstone's first Met Gala, her dress was fully embroidered with recycled silver stars by Keri Ataumbi, a jeweler based out of Santa Fe, who hand-crafted each one. Then, the stars were arranged into "nine different constellations" as a nod to "Kiowa, Blackfeet, and other Plains people [who] have always said we come from the stars, and it is where we return to join our ancestors," according to Lily.
Lily continued, telling Vogue, "It is a tapestry of time, under the veil of night." Her Met Gala look continues Lily's trend of using her red carpet outfits to spotlight Indigenous fashion designers.
The stars on the gown are constellations "as seen from the Great Plains," says Gabriela Hearst, who created the look. In order to make this happen, the team used a photo of the Great Plains sky during the summer solstice in June 2023.
10.Elle Fanning's Met Gala look was Balmain with Cartier jewelry, with the actor paying homage to Sleeping Beauty. She told Vogue, "I played Sleeping Beauty in Maleficent, so I was like, Gosh, I have to pay homage to her a little bit," hence the birds on the shoulders.
Elle continued, saying, "With the princess, getting dressed by her woodland creatures. They are putting the fabric on me. And also I wanted it to look like ice or like glass that is so delicate it could break. So I'm a glass statue in the garden."
11.Cardi B wore a stunning all-black Windowsen dress, which required nine people to carry all of the tulle. The pounds of layered tulle were so heavy that Cardi guessed that it might've weighed around 140 pounds.
Cardi's ensemble also included jewelry by Kamyen Jewellery, according to her Instagram post.
12.Taylor Russell attended her first Met Gala in Loewe with a corset that was 3D molded to fit her body perfectly, according to Vogue. The mold was then printed with the wood pattern using a technique called hydro-sublimation.
Designer Jonathan Anderson elaborated on the 3D molded wood-like corset, saying, "Playing with the senses is central to the experience of the exhibition, and we play similar tricks with trompe l’oeil in collections at Loewe, blurring the line between what’s real or surreal, what’s natural or unnatural."
13.Bad Bunny, who was a co-chair of the event, wore a custom Maison Margiela Artisanal Collection by John Galliano suit. The bouquet included a Flor de Maga, the national flower of Puerto Rico. Then, roses, which are a symbol of beauty and purity, and the flax plant, which Sleeping Beauty pricked her finger on in the fairytale.
The outfit included "a black satin corset, navy barathea wool smoking jacket with black grosgrain lapels and a reverse-swatched hat made of blue foam," according to Vogue.
14.Rebecca Ferguson's Thom Browne ensemble included 60,000 green and blue Swarovski crystals that were embroidered into flowers, alongside 7,000 folded petal raffia and raw raffia frayed ravens. According to Thom Browne, 30 people worked for 8,500 hours to create the dress.
As for the ravens that adorned the inside of the cape, Rebecca said the inspiration was pulled from her looking at "The Garden of Time," the short story that inspired this year's Met Gala dress code, as well as Thom Browne's recent runway show, which was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven."
She added, "It's free, it's spiritual, it's timeless."
15.Demi Moore wore a show-stopping velvet dress by Harris Reed. The dress was created using vintage archival wallpaper, and it included "over 5,000 to 6,000 hours of hand embroidery." Demi also became the first person to wear Cartier's High Jewelry collection, Nature Sauvage. The necklace contained 7.87 carats of emeralds, according to Vogue.
Speaking about the inspiration for the spikes, aka thorns, that also adorned the dress, Harris told Vogue, "That was so important to kind of show these almost thorns around her because so many beautiful things are spiky to the touch."
16.Quannah Chasinghorse, who has been a favorite on the Met Gala carpet for the last few years, wore a purple gown designed by H&M and was reportedly partially based on the brand's archives. Incorporated into the dress were Forget-Me-Not flowers, the state flower of Alaska, where Quannah is from.
Explaining the significance of incorporating the flower, Quannah said, "Living in Alaska, I've probably found between 5 to 10 Forget-Me-Nots in my entire lifetime. That's how rare they are. They are a tiny, delicate flower. They're really low to the ground and are so beautiful and have this pretty blue color. Some grow with an iridescent purple color. When you find and see them, it's like a rare delicacy."
17.Jonathan Bailey wore a suit by Loewe, which included a "hand-painted metal peony with a sugar crystal texture," according to Vogue. The flower was a straightforward nod to the Garden of Time theme for this year's Met Gala.
He also had a secret flower on his pants, which was hidden by his jacket. He told Vogue, "That was my idea."
18.Da'Vine Joy Randolph's denim dress was Gap and designed by Zac Posen. According to the New York Times, it was inspired by 1700s evening wear. The dress also had an orange lining, which was inspired by the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, where Gap was founded in 1969.
Da'Vine's dress marked the first public project for Gap after hiring Posen in February 2024. Speaking about the dress, Da'Vine said, "I knew that this dress was going to look like it was poured on my body, which is very exciting for me as a curvy girl who likes to show her body."
Once inside the museum, Da'Vine was able to reportedly remove pieces of the sprawling skirt to make it "less dramatic" and reveal a mermaid dress underneath.
19.Greta Lee attended her first Met Gala in a custom Loewe outfit. As for her stunning makeup, she assembled a team of all Asian women to help her, with Nina Park on makeup, Jenny Cho on hair, and Naomi Yasuda on nails. In particular, the wig was "hand-chopped" by Jenny mere hours before the event and was inspired by "Stella Tennant's choppy haircut."
Speaking about the wig, Jenny told Vogue, "Boyish, to sit opposite the delicate dress that's so strong and edgy. The wig idea came in as the dress was being made — but pivoted to this vibe this morning."
20.Ayo Edebiri wore a floral ensemble from Loewe to the 2024 Met Gala. The dress was covered in hand-painted, hand-embroidered floral lace, according to Vogue. It also was adorned with 3D appliqué flowers that gave the dress the illusion that it was blossoming.
This marked Ayo's first appearance at the Met Gala. Speaking to Vogue, she said, "The level of craftsmanship that it took to make this dress is so beyond. Looking into those details, taking that into consideration, it just amplifies that feeling for me."
21.And finally, Charli XCX's gown by Marni was actually made out of vintage T-shirts, which serve as a nod to Francesco Risso's signature "mending" stitch motif, according to Vogue. It reportedly took 15 people to also hand-sew the rhinestones and glass beads, and it took 200 hours for the dress to be put together.
Speaking about her ensemble with Vogue, Charli said, "Francesco and I both liked the idea of taking the most simple item — the white T-shirt — and building something extravagant from it."
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