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.”
Photo: Katia Temkin