Lana Del Rey has embodied the official dress code at the Met Gala 2024 in a mother-nature inspired woodland look.
The biggest names in film, music, TV and fashion have 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.
US singer Del Rey, who headlined the Coachella music festival in April, personified the official Garden Of Time dress code this year wearing custom 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 the Vogue Met Gala Livestream 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 Kardashian described the metal armour-esque bustier top with a floral imprinted bodice design as “beautiful”, which was paired with a floral chainmail dress, a gray bolero cardigan and tousled hair.
Meanwhile her sister, US 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.
This year, the celebrity co-chairs are Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny, and first-time attendee Chris Hemsworth.
US actress Zendaya, one of the most expected arrivals of the night, wore an ocean-blue and green tulle gown with a matching dramatic headpiece from Maison Margiela’s John Galliano, styled by her long-time collaborator Law Roach.
The ensemble was paired with hummingbirds on her decolletage and a fascinator.
Meanwhile 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 10 until September 2.