Fashion powerhouse Zendaya brought the drama to the steps of the 2024 Met Gala, delivering two memorable fashion moments.
The biggest names in film, music, TV and fashion ascended the off-white and airbrushed green steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York with their interpretation of the theme Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.
The Met Gala, known as fashion’s biggest night, is held on the first Monday in May and celebrates the opening of the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition at the New York museum.
One of the most anticipated arrivals of the night was US actress Zendaya, who served as a co-chair of the event, alongside Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny, and first-time attendee Chris Hemsworth.
The 27-year-old first walked up the steps in a dramatic ocean-blue and green tulle gown with a matching dramatic headpiece from Maison Margiela, styled by her long-time collaborator Law Roach.
The ensemble featured a hand-embroidered corsage, a hummingbird on her decolletage and a fascinator, which paid tribute to this year’s Garden Of Time dress code with a nod to the natural world.
Her second surprise look came at the end of the carpet, with the Hollywood star opting for vintage black Givenchy couture from the spring 1996 collection, featuring a floral bouquet hat with a long train.
US model Gigi Hadid also turned heads at the Met Gala, wearing an embellished Thom Browne gown adorned with yellow flowers and green leaves as she was helped up the stairs by five members of staff.
“It was that slow to walk up because I’m literally wearing a sculpture by Thom Browne and his team. There are 2,008,000 beads just on the dress alone. It took 20 people 5000 hours to work on this look. I’m just so honoured to be presenting this for them,” Hadid told Vogue.
Other stars embodying the dress code included US singer Lana Del Rey with a mother-nature-inspired woodland custom look from Alexander McQueen by designer Sean McGirr.
The ensemble is based on the original late Lee McQueen from his fall 2006 collection titled “The Widows of Culloden” and featured Del Rey wearing wooden antlers covered in beige netting.
Del Rey told Vogue that the ensemble was “very architectural”, and the shape was “the most important thing” for her.
“It was the idea of mother nature with a slightly more sinister aspect,” McGirr said.
Del Rey attempted not to injure her fellow stars with the headpiece while posing on the carpet, including Kim Kardashian who wore a silver custom Maison Margiela ensemble.
Reality star and Skims owner Kardashian described the metal armour-esque bustier top with a floral imprinted bodice design as “beautiful”, which was paired with a floral chainmail skirt, a gray bolero cardigan and tousled hair.
Meanwhile, her sister, model Kendall Jenner, said she was “so incredibly honoured” to be wearing an archive Givenchy from 1999 at the annual fundraiser, after she “did her research” on the Sleeping Beauties theme.
“I’m the first human to wear it, it was showed on a mannequin … it was a miracle that it fit, it was a miracle that we found it and it just feels meant to be,” she said on the carpet.
Kylie Jenner also appeared on the carpet wearing a strapless bullet bra-style column gown from Oscar de la Renta, the same designer her mother Kris Jenner opted for on the carpet.
Following the Garden Of Time theme was British star Cynthia Erivo, who appeared alongside her Wicked co-star Ariana Grande.
Erivo, who will play Elphaba in the upcoming film adaptation of the musical, wore a Thom Browne look complete with pink silk rose petals and a butterfly attached to the back of her head.
Meanwhile US star Grande said the pink hues in the pearls on her custom Loewe white ethereal number reminded her of her Wicked character Glinda’s bubble.
The Bear actress Ayo Edebiri was also channelling a bouquet of flowers in her Loewe gown, with rosy cheeks matching the shade of her dress.
Co-chair Lopez attended her 14th Met Gala opting for a sheer and sparkling gown with a plunging neckline and a pronounced architectural bodice, from Schiaparelli Haute Couture.
“Eight hundred hours of work, a true couture creation, it has four butterfly wings … perfect for the sleeping beauty (theme), a butterfly sleeps, wakes up,” Lopez said.
Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny was wearing a navy barathea jacket with a bouquet made up of the Flor de Maga, Puerto Rico’s national flower, a rose and a flax plant which Sleeping Beauty pricked her finger on in the original fairy tale.
The rapper and singer, real name Benito Ocasio, also wore a reverse stitched hat and sunglasses as part of the custom Maison Margiela fit.
Vogue editor-in-chief Dame Anna Wintour has been running the Met Gala since 1995.
Dame Anna was wearing a custom Loewe look with a black cape adorned with tulips, inspired by a cloak designed by Charles Frederick Worth in the 1800s, according to Vogue magazine.
Last year, the theme was Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty, in tribute to the designer who died in 2019.
The Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion exhibition will feature around 200 fragile and rare pieces from the Costume Institute’s archive, inspired by the natural world.
The exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art will run from May 10th until September 2nd.
