This year has been an exciting one for Ariana Grande: Her new album, Eternal Sunshine, was released in March, and the superstar will star as Glinda in the film adaptation of Wicked come November. Last night, then, it was only natural that Grande continued her 2024 takeover—by hitting the Met Gala red carpet in glorious style for the first time since 2018. She was sure to honor the “Sleeping Beauties” theme. “I felt so connected to this theme; it’s truly so aligned with everything I love aesthetically, and so inspiring to me,” says Grande, who wore a custom Loewe look for the affair. “As soon as I heard this was the theme, I could not wait to get started. I was also so inexplicably excited to work with one of my favorite designers, Loewe’s Jonathan Anderson; I love the way he uses and plays with uncommon materials, technologies, and shapes to tell stories and to push the envelope.”
On the famous Met steps, Grande wore Loewe’s bustier dress in mother-of-pearl, complete with a hand-pleated, multilayered skirt in silk chiffon. Anderson and his atelier looked to “sensorial craft techniques”—drawing upon the beauty of nature to inspire craftsmanship and textile selection. (Grande’s skirt was designed to mimic the iridescence of the nacre mineral.) “The idea for my outfit was to create an ethereal look, inspired by nature and by the way that mother-of-pearl reflects light,” says Grande. “Pearl is my birthstone, so it’s very meaningful to me for that reason—as well as the subtle ways in which I feel like it nods to Glinda’s bubble and to Wicked with its subtle opalescent winks of pink and green.”
While Grande’s look nodded to her character in Wicked, her favorite detail about the design was the more sentimental meaning behind the pearl motif. “The inspiration for my look was the magic of nature and the many ways that it can surprise us,” says Grande. “Something so beautiful can be born when you least expect it or in the most unexpected places, like a pearl. Pearls are tiny (sometimes) but strong, and they absorb and reflect the beautiful energy of the world around them—picking up on the pretty colors that they see and shining them right back at you.” When Grande put on the final design, she says she was instantly emotional. “It was so moving—I welled up so many times this Met Gala,” she says. “And not because the corset was as rock hard as it was!”
The star’s red-carpet look wasn’t Grande’s only fashion serve of the evening either. Later on in the night, she hit the stage inside the Met Gala to perform for the star-studded crowd—where she sang a medley of hits including “We Can’t Be Friends” and “Into You.” Naturally, Grande brought a fabulous ensemble for that too: She slipped into a sheer green Maison Margiela gown designed by John Galliano. “So here is the thing: I am the biggest Margiela and John Galliano fan on the planet, so when I heard that there was a chance that John was going to be designing my costume, I wept,” says Grande. “When I saw the sketch, I wept. When I tried it on, I wept. The whole thing has been quite a lot.”
In channeling the beauty of the natural world, the fantasy-oriented design featured a structured corset and an overlay of tulle and crystals. “I’ve never felt more beautiful or more ‘me’ in a performance look than I did in this one,” says Grande. “I felt like a Margiela fairy from John’s own planet, which is something I have dreamed of being for years. It is my favorite thing I’ve ever worn, and I’d like to never take it off. I mean it—they will have to try their very best to pry it off of me.”
The star’s meaningful night only got better, as she got the chance to meet the designer himself. “He is the kindest, most magical [person] who speaks in poems,” says Grande. “He stayed to watch my rehearsal, the whole time, just to make sure all of the layers were moving perfectly, and that each reveal worked the way it needed to, and that each sparkle was perfectly in place. I don’t think I’ve ever been so moved by clothing or by meeting someone like this before.”
Below, see how Grande got ready for the 2024 Met Gala.
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