Why the Real Met Gala 2024 Theme Was Interior Design

Don’t throw away your old wallpaper! It may just have a second life as an ultrachic gown. Case in point, actress Demi Moore, who wore 60-year-old Fromental wallpaper as couture. The transformation comes courtesy of British-American designer Harris Reed, who turned the dead stock paper into a sculptural gown resembling a flower blossoming (with thorns, naturally) from the waist up, and then wilting near the base. “It’s 1,100 hours of silk embroidery that we’ve repurposed into this idea of her blooming on the carpet,” Reed told model Ashley Graham in a Vogue livestream interview. Moore also wore a showstopping new necklace from Cartier, which Reed considered from the very beginning when designing the gown.

There are few people in the world who could make a bed sheet look chic on the Met Gala’s red carpet. Two of those people are tennis star Maria Sharapova and fashion designer Prabal Gurung. In keeping with the Costume Institute’s exhibition theme, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” Gurung partnered with Boll & Branch—the home brand known for its super-comfy, organic bedding, sheets, and towels—to create a daffodil yellow gown out of 20 yards of Boll & Branch cotton fabric. Apparently it took more than 300 hours to create the hand-sewn number…a number that also conveniently corresponds to the amount of sleep Met Gala attendees will inevitably need today (ideally in Boll & Branch bedding, of course!).

The dress code for this year’s Met Gala red carpet was “The Garden of Time,” so it was only appropriate that Balmain would transform South African singer Tyla into a ravishing human hourglass or—if you are obsessed with gardening like we are—the world’s most stylish irrigation-free landscape system. Though your home xeriscape will likely be dotted with cactus, agave, and sage, Tyla’s strapless, mermaid-style gown was covered in three colors of sand and “micro-crystal studs,” per Vogue, and was so delicate that she had to be carried into the soiree. This year’s theme “ignited my imagination,” Balmain’s creative director, Olivier Rousteing, told Vogue. And if your imagination’s not fired up to go design your very own desert garden, we don’t know what will.

Long live Harlem Toile! Interior designer and ELLE DECOR A-List designer Sheila Bridges created the iconic pattern almost 20 years ago, and it remains relevant to this day. The motif—which reinterprets 18th-century French toile to incorporate Black characters—has made its way onto plates, candles, robes, speakers, and even the Met Gala. ABC News journalist Deborah Roberts wore the print as a gown to the event—a collaboration between Bridges and bridal designer Mark Ingram. “When we talk about a garden theme, I just think this is so perfect,” Roberts said in a video posted to Ingram’s Instagram. “Most importantly, it’s a gown that I’ve owned—so sustainability is part of the deal.”

Bones and All actress Taylor Russell made her Met Gala debut this year—no surprise, she opted for a custom Loewe gown. A global brand ambassador for the Spanish label, Russell opened Loewe’s spring 2023 ready-to-wear show in Paris and continues her partnership with creative director Jonathan Anderson here. The inspiration? “I’ve always wanted to be a tree,” she said jokingly in a Vogue livestream interview with model Ashley Graham and actress Gwendoline Christie. Don’t be fooled, though: The sculpted corset may look like real wood, but it’s a trompe-l’oeil effect. Loewe used a printing technique to mimic the look of wood grain and marquetry—so Russell could climb the Met steps san splinters.

OK, so actress Elle Fanning’s sheer gown wasn’t really made of glass, but it certainly fooled us! The actress wore custom Balmain, which was made with organza and layers of resin for a glass-spun effect. The cherry on top were the two resin birds perched on either shoulder, which evoke the timeless, graceful sculpture of a heritage glassmaker like Lalique.