Nobody is shining as bright as Irina Shayk on the 2024 Met Gala red carpet. While we can’t deny the model’s radiance, she also got a little help from Swarovski.
In line with the recent corset and sheer trends, Shayk is wearing a full-length dress made entirely of an invisible net of Swarovski crystals, crafted by six artisans over 200 hours. The scoop-neck tank dress is complete with full-length crystal gloves, as well as a strand choker and stacks of bracelets on each wrist. The model’s waist is cinched with the help of a rhinestone-encrusted corset, complete with a floor-grazing ribbon. “When I first saw the sketches, I was blown away by the level of intricacy,” Shayk says of the look, which was covered in 84,000 crystals by hand.
The Costume Institute’s exhibit, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” is divided into three subcategories: land, sea, and sky. Swarovski creative director Giovanna Engelbert took inspiration from the air for Shayk’s dress. “The timeless beauty of the clear crystal color and its luminous quality inspired an iconic look that perfectly mirrors the air’s delicate yet powerful essence,” Engelbert tells Vogue.
Engelbert was also particularly taken with a passage from J.G. Ballard’s “The Garden of Time”— which informed the evening’s dress code—that referred to the “crystal heart” of the flowers: “Their diamond brilliance contained a thousand facets, the crystal seeming to drain the air of its light and motion.”
Courtesy of Swarovski