Four Australian fashion icons help us unpack the Met Gala

In a single twirl of taffeta and cloth flowers, the 2024 Met Gala red carpet is over for another year. 

While the gala’s esteemed guests enjoy their meals inside, we’ve collected four of Australia’s brightest designers — Emma Mulholland, Christine Lafian, Alvi Chung and Jordan Gogos — to find out what their favourite looks of the green carpet were, plus any they didn’t love quite so much.

This year’s Gala theme, The Garden of Time, saw plenty of florals, but plenty more cerebral, surprising choices.

Designers dug into themes of ephemeral beauty and decay from the Gala’s namesake, a haunting short story by JG Ballard, embracing materials like sand and tree branches to create looks that purposefully won’t stand the test of time.

The fundraiser for the Met’s Costume Institute plays off Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, the Met’s latest costume exhibition featuring approximately 250 items on display. Some are up to 400 years old, and many are too fragile to be worn without being destroyed. Using technology like AI, soundscapes, CGI, projection and X-rays, the exhibit will “reawaken” these pieces, sourced from the Institute’s permanent collection.

Want to see more of the night’s fashion? Catch up with our live coverage of the red carpet.

Independent designers and being carried up stairs

Emma Mulholland is the founder of Emma Mulholland on Holiday.

Tyla wears Balmain

“An interesting take on the theme and she looks absolutely stunning. I can only imagine how intricate the (bead!?) work on this would be up close. The videos of her being carried up the stairs were also adorable.”

Chloe Sevigny wears Dilara Findikoglu

“She hasn’t been to the Met in a while from memory. She looks stunning in this colour and I love seeing someone with such star power support an independent designer.”

Sarah Paulson wears Prada

“It’s definitely not rocket science but I love this custom Prada bow look and her perfect hair and accessories.”

Hot mess chic and gentle burn marks

Alvi Chung is the managing director of Sydney-based label Speed.

Doja Cat wears Vetements

“Something about this look is super relatable, we’ve all been there….

Effortless hot mess chic.”

Taylor Russell wears Loewe

“The painted wooden corset with the ethereal train gives me futuristic wooden forest soldier vibes. I was awakened.”

Wisdom Kaye wears Robert Wun

“This carefully singed red ensemble is so lush, I feel that it is so simple yet dramatic.

If you manage to make burn marks appear gentle, it does channel a sleeping beauty.”

Couture from around the world

Christine Lafian is the creative director of SUKU.

Mindy Kaling wears Gaurav Gupta

“[Mindy Kaling] looks so stunning and I love the soft structural elements and ethereal feel the dress has.

“I love the intricate draping and pleating of the chiffon and the way it looks like a gust of wind has come in the most beautiful way and it has frozen in time, or the dress is blooming like a flower. I think it’s a more subtle conceptual take on the brief.

“She has styled the look in an old glamour way with her short hair and soft make-up.

“I also like that she has brought her own culture to the Met Gala with Gaurav Gupta being an Indian couturier. It’s great to see unique representations of couture around the world rather than just seeing the same big fashion houses worn every year.”

Josh O’Connor wears Loewe

“I think this is such a fantastic modern take on the classic tuxedo look. I love the exaggerated coat tails dragging along the ground, it’s so fun. It’s such a refined and well done take on an avant-garde suiting look.

“With the detailing of the broach as a bow tie beaded shirt and the floral beading boots it all feels like a fabulous subversion of men’s suiting archetypes.”

Gigi Hadid wears Thom Browne

“This look is head to toe stunning! Thom Browne nails the brief!

“The dress itself is so intricate. So much minute detail and craftsmanship has gone into this dress. I love the illusion of the jacket merging together with the black satin ribbon and the 3D beaded flowers that evoke the idea of roots and vines intertwined in an overgrown garden bed. The way the dress is coming out of the jacket makes me think she is a flower blooming. The dress has a romantic vibe to it and is a great mix of conceptual and classic.

“The styling is perfect with the romantic curly bob illusion and the simple red lip against the white and yellow on the dress and I love the little detail of the flowers on her nails.”

Reinterpreting menswear and your face as a sandcastle

Jordan Gogos is the creative director of Iordanes Spyridon Gogos.

Nicole Kidman wears Balenciaga

“Nicole Kidman slapped. I’m sorry but she just gave.”

Josh O’Connor wears Loewe

“I loved Josh O’Connor’s look a lot. His stylist Harry Lambert [who also dresses Emma Corrin and Harry Styles] is amazing.

“Everyone talks about embellishments for men — but even when they’ve reinterpreted the suit, it’s never with form. I love how they’ve taken an element and stretched it out, it’s like a reinterpreted penguin suit. And then the floral shoes??? It just like works really well.”

Lil Nas X wears Laur

“Basic but Lil Nas X killed it. The stitching elements, the whole thing is ridiculously good.”

Olivier Rousteing wears Balmain

“I love [Balmain creative director] Olivier Rousteing’s outfit. A few people have done the sand look this year but this face portrait of himself — I’m sorry that’s what we tune in for! If a designer is showing up for themselves, why not show up with your face as a sandcastle on your chest?”

Lizzo wears Weinsanto

“I’m obsessed with Lizzo in Weinsanto. This outfit — they’ve customed it to her, I saw the original on the runway, and it went past the face. It’s so not what I would have picked for her, which is why I love it so much.

“That look was begging to be at the Met Gala….I wish they had it more sheer around the face and not had that cut out of it, as it was on the runway. But I’m still obsessed, and it’s nice to see a body like that in something so beautiful.”

Special worst-dressed mention: Met Gala co-chair Chris Hemsworth wears Tom Ford

“Chris Hemsworth was a disaster. It’s a cream suit. You can’t just be a hot man and wear a cream suit to the Met Gala! The hot privilege — he shouldn’t be chair in the first place!”