As you all know, the Met Ball took place on Monday, May 6, in New York at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and this event was the fashion extravaganza of the season. This year, the invite included an unusual, but fun, choice of theme: “Punk: Chaos to Couture.” They asked all-star attendees to go punk, and while many guests stuck with the typical pretty dresses and totally missed the memo on the dress code, some of the stars embraced the dramatic theme by adding safety pins and stud embellishments. This year for the gala, I styled Emily Blunt and her husband John Krasinski from The Office, and one of my favorite super models, Miranda Kerr.
The preparation for Emily’s dress started a year ago when Emily was invited by Carolina Herrera to attend the Met Ball. During this time, sketches were sent to us for review; Emily really wanted to tap into an earth-friendly trend by wearing an eco-friendly fabric – GCC. It was between two GCC fabric dresses: a vibrant, butter-yellow gown and a black gown with a keyhole opening. We decided to go with the stunning black Carolina Herrera gown with horse hair inside the sleeves for an exaggerated look, because it was all about the little details.
We took snippets of the trend in order for Emily to exude the punk look, because we didn’t want to take it too literally. We matched the gorgeous gown with Rupert Sanderson heels, a structured metallic Jimmy Choo clutch, and a pair of beautiful, edgy drop earrings with a statement ring and a cuff from none other than Lorraine Schwartz – jeweler to the stars. We finished the look with a British mohawk and bright pink eye shadow for that pop of color and edge. For Emily’s date, husband John Krasinski, we decided on a dapper black bow-tie suit from Tom Ford.
Preparation for Miranda’s dress started about 2 months ago, and two sketches were sent over. Let me tell you, this one was a difficult one because I was competing for frocks with Jennifer Lopez. Michael Kors invited both Jennifer and Miranda (and being the perfectionist that I am); I needed and wanted to see all of the dresses beforehand. We went with a midriff-baring cut-out Michael Kors gown. This was the first sketch that caught our eyes, and as soon as Miranda tried it on, we both fell in love. We finished the look with black crystal Tabitha Simmons heels, a metallic spike-adorned Christian Louboutin clutch, and stunning jewels from Cartier and Chanel. For the makeup, we went with crimson red lips and soft, cascading curls. We wanted to stick with the romantic and pretty feel, but we added a ‘touch of punk’ with the accessories.
My personal favorites of the night were Madonna as the ‘Queen of Punk’ in Givenchy, and Sarah Jessica Parker, who was on-point with her Giles Deacon gown and Philip Treacy faux hawk headpiece… both of these ladies killed it. All in all, the night was flawless! I have been doing this for so many years, that we have these red carpet events down to a science!
Until next time, I’m off to a commercial shoot.
XX,
Jess
