The first Monday in May is practically a global holiday. Since 1995, the Met Gala has been the undisputed pinnacle of celebrity style. This year, around 450 of the most powerful names in fashion, culture, and entertainment will descend upon the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Their mission? To deliver their most extravagant looks yet under the dress code: Fashion Is Art.It ties directly to the museum’s Costume Art exhibition, which explores the “dressed body” as a common thread linking all the galleries. But what does that actually mean for the red carpet?Simply put, expect a total departure from standard red-carpet glamour. Curator Andrew Bolton has organized a massive display of 400 objects—splitting 200 garments and 200 ancient artworks—into three thematic body types. We will see bodies omnipresent in art (the classical and nude), the often-overlooked (aging or pregnant figures), and universal anatomical bodies. Bolton is actively challenging the fashion industry’s obsession with extreme thinness, pushing for a much broader perspective on corporeality.
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For the guests, it is an open invitation to treat the human body as a blank canvas. We are absolutely going to see some iconic “naked dress” moments. Marilyn Monroe set the standard, and Kim Kardashian famously revived it in 2022. This year, designers are expected to expose, distort, and celebrate the natural form. Beyoncé is hosting the evening, and alongside names like Lady Gaga, Hunter Schafer, Teyana Taylor, and Zendaya, she easily tops the list of best-dressed predictions.So, whose work is going to dominate the famous steps on May 4? Here are the designers defining the era of embodied art.All eyes are on Priyanka Chopra Jonas as she brings sheer drama to the ‘Citadel 2’ screening in Los AngelesThe Deconstructors: McQueen and Gaultier Alexander McQueen always treated the body as raw sculptural material, pushing it to the absolute edge of recognition. His 1998 Spine corset simulated a human skeleton on the outside, while his bumster trousers radically changed how we perceive waist proportions. He blurred the line between human and machine.Then there is Jean Paul Gaultier, a pioneer of provocation. His 1995 Cyberbaba collection mapped human muscles directly onto garments through optical illusions. He was also celebrating the pregnant body on the runway decades before it was culturally mainstream. With Duran Lantink now stirring the industry at the helm of the brand, Gaultier’s subversions of the body remain a foundational reference.Surrealism and Architecture: Schiaparelli and Rick Owens Maximalism only really works when Schiaparelli does it. Founder Elsa Schiaparelli famously collaborated with Salvador Dalí on a skeleton dress, turning human motifs into playful materials. Today, Daniel Roseberry pushes that boundary even further with inverted lungs and beating, crystal-adorned hearts.Rick Owens, meanwhile, turns the body into a brutalist ceremony. He doesn’t care about conventionally flattering a figure. Think back to his Spring 2016 show where models wore each other like backpacks. With his asymmetrical cuts and sculptural platform boots that completely alter a person’s balance, Owens uses the body as a site for architectural exploration. Expect the extreme.
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Sci-Fi Proportions: Mugler and Matières Fécales Thierry Mugler gave us the exaggerated, heightened corporeality of the seventies and the iconic latex cut-out armor of the nineties. Today, Miguel Castro Freitas continues that dramatic legacy.Taking it to a completely post-human realm is Matières Fécales. Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran erase the line between silicone prosthetics and high fashion. Their viral skin heels look like mutated leg extensions. Favored by Lady Gaga, their work elongates and inflates proportions, practically guaranteeing a viral Met Gala moment.
The Pure Technicians: Dilara Findikoglu, Alaïa, and Iris van Herpen Dilara Findikoglu fuses Victorian precision with punk. She uses corsets, sheer materials, safety pins, and human hair not to restrict the body, but to turn it into a sculptural weapon.Alaïa, on the other hand, was the master of musculature. He cut fabric directly on live models, treating clothing as the connective tissue between anatomy and architecture. Under Pieter Mulier, the brand’s renaissance continues to prove that body-conscious fashion is both fragile and indestructible.Katrina Kaif makes her first public appearance post maternity in an all-black airport look, and fans are officially obsessedFinally, Iris van Herpen brings science to the red carpet. Using 3D printing and laser cutting, her ethereal kinetic sculptures simulate nervous systems and cellular structures. It is the ultimate futuristic, organic extension of the human form.May 4 is going to be less of a fashion show and more of a walking museum. Prepare accordingly.
