At the Met Gala 2024, Gigi Hadid is blooming before our very eyes. Gracing the green carpet in a custom Thom Browne ensemble, she leaned into the event’s floral imagery while serving up food for thought.
The model’s white corset bodice flows into a structured billowing bottom embellished with yellow rose motifs and striking black piping. Upon closer inspection, her exaggerated skirt comprises an oversized menswear coat hanging from her hips. The result is an over-the-top oeuvre that blurs gender codes while tying in themes of rebirth and regeneration.
This year, the Costume Institute’s exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art is “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” a display that showcases rare garments spanning over 400 years of fashion history. The dress code itself — “The Garden of Time” — is all about “fleeting beauty,” according to Vogue. The mood for the Met Gala 2024 is rich with nods to nature and age-old archives, and Gigi Hadid delivered both.
To understand this sumptuous storytelling, we can look to celebrity stylist Mimi Cuttrell. “For Gigi’s Thom Browne look, we focused on statues and structured stone columns in a garden with vines and floral details,” she said in a statement to FASHION. Evoking a stone bust covered in overgrown foliage, the skirt alone reportedly took a team of over 40 people over 8,500 hours to embroider.
Upon first hearing the Met’s theme, Cuttrell told FASHION it made her think of art, whimsical beauty, and femininity. “Ancient statues, florals and organic textures like silks and tulle came straight to mind,” she said. Hence the elaborate embroidery and statuesque shape.
Cuttrell, who orchestrated Gigi Hadid’s gothic gauzy get-up at the 2023 Met Gala, added that she works closely with designers for a custom look that reflects her clients’ personalities. “We begin with a phone call, mood boards, seeing initial sketches and fine detailing from there.”
Along with dressing Gigi Hadid for the Met Gala 2024, Cuttrell worked with Ariana Grande and Madelyn Cline ahead of this year’s event. To craft a distinct aesthetic for each star, the stylist said she creates in-depth Pinterest boards. “I drew my inspiration for this night through art and nature predominantly by sourcing images that inspired me on Pinterest and applied them to the direction we wanted to take with each of my clients’ looks,” she said.
Gigi Hadid’s Met Gala 2024 Pinterest board (pictured below) was filled with hazy green mazes, golden flowers and meticulously well-made sculptures. Beauty-wise, Cuttrell fittingly channeled pop culture’s most timeless muse: Marilyn Monroe.
In a sea of predictable florals, Hadid struck a welcome balance of delicate romance and dapper menswear. Both forceful and feminine, Gigi Hadid’s Met Gala 2024 look combined visuals that are often used in opposition, but that are ultimately more powerful when presented side-by-side.
“Fleeting beauty” may be the underlying theme of the evening, but this look will leave a lasting impact.
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