We saw plenty of eye-catching looks at the 2021 Met Gala, but there was one particular celebrity that turned heads: the fashion queen herself, Gabrielle Union.
The actress and entrepreneur donned a gorgeous custom white dress and, according to Union, it took designer Iris van Herpen several hours to create. During her red carpet interview on Live From E!, the actress revealed, "We've been working on this since April, 1,400 manhours."
The Bring It On alum also explained how the color-changing ensemble was connected to the Met Gala theme, “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” which aimed to explore "a modern vocabulary of American style, emphasizing the expressive qualities of dress and deeper associations with issues of equity, diversity and inclusion." She said, "It's all about change. What's needed in America, what's needed in fashion, and with each step, this dress changes and you see different colors. You see different textures and that's what it should be all about."
The designer, Herpen, also shared a snap of his stunning creation on Instagram and detailed how the dress was made. He wrote, "Hugely honored to design for the groundbreaking @GabUnion. We created Gabrielle her custom look passionately for this year's Met Gala, thousands of spheres are cut and layerd in size gradients from a translucent white ‘liquid’ fabric and lasercut with a fine silver outline, to then be hand-stitched seamlessly in a multilevel optical illusion from which waves seem to float down weightlessly."
While speaking with W magazine, Herpen also opened up about what it was like to collaborate with Union. He said, "From the moment I met her, I felt inspired by her ambition to drive positive change on so many levels of today’s society. I wanted to create a garment in perfect symbiosis with her and her ambitions, to show her beautiful mind to the world, and to embody our shared vision for a better future."
All we can say is, mission accomplished.
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