When the stakes are that high, you do your homework. Elsesser and her stylist Carlos Nazario landed on the concept of undergarments as outerwear, because the gilded era (this year’s dress code) required elaborate underwear – from bustiers and corsetry to slips – to help shape the immaculately tailored looks. They took their soft, sexy, ornate concept to Coach creative director Stuart Vevers, who saw parallels with the vintage slip dresses Courtney Love wore in the ’90s, and the rest is history.
Of course, the end look is less Hole (the rock band Love fronted), and more haute. “It juxtaposes a silk satin corset with the softness of antique lingerie silk and hand-embroidered lace,” explains Stuart, who repurposed dresses from the ’30s for this moment. “I liked the idea of mixing separates that reference distinct eras in American fashion – from the Victorian age to the ’30s and ’90s – to show how the next generation is creatively imagining the future of fashion through a personal point of view. This is also the language that defines my collections for Coach.”
Elsesser kept Rihanna and Naomi in mind for their authentic approaches to Met Gala dressing, but what Vevers loves about Paloma – the face of a generation who can already go by her first name alone – is that “she has changed fashion by being herself”. Her red-carpet rituals involve nothing more than surrounding herself with love and saying a little prayer. “I’m not super religious, but I’m pretty spiritual and I think that it’s a good moment to be like, ‘Well, this is crazy.’” Amen.
See All of the Celebrity Looks From the Met Gala 2022 Red Carpet: