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.
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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.”
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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.
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The dress, being from the 1996 collection, also ties into the year Zendaya was born. According to stylist Law Roach, the ensemble was sourced by LILY et Cie, too.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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