Zendaya may have just served up her most dramatic Met Gala look yet.
After a five-year absence from the fashion event, the Challengers actress made her grand return to the Met steps as she served as a co-chair.
For this year’s event, themed “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” Zendaya wore a head-turning gown by Maison Margiela’s John Galliano, per Vogue, styled by her longtime collaborator Law Roach. The dress featured many intricate details throughout, including black, blue and green tulle and berries and leaves draping over her waist.
Zendaya brought the drama with her beauty look, rocking smoky eyes and maroon lipstick, which perfectly accented her striking bird earrings and huge feather fascinator.
Ahead of the May 6 event, Zendaya stepped out for Anna Wintour's famous pre-Met dinner, where she wore a white vintage lace John Galliano gown from the designer's fall 1998 collection.
The stunning ensemble featured a sheer pink floral top embroidered with butterflies, which is most likely a nod to this year'sdress code being "The Garden of Time," inspired by a short story by JG Ballard.
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This year's Costume Institute exhibit will feature approximately 250 items — including 15 significant pieces, such as an 1877 Charles Frederick Worth silk satin ball gown — that span over 400 years of history.
The dress code is heavily influenced by “The Garden of Time,” J.G. Ballard’s 1962 short story of the same name as well, as "fleeting beauty."
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Zendaya is certainly no stranger to the Met Gala, having made headlines with her eye-catching outfits through the years. She made her Met Gala debut in 2015 as she wore a custom Fausto Puglisi sun-motif dress, inspired by that year's theme, "China: Through the Looking Glass."
Since then, she has graced us with many notable looks, including her Joan of Arc-inspired chainmail Atelier Versace dress in 2018 and her Cinderella Tommy Hilfiger gown in 2019, the latter marking her last time at the event.
While visiting Live with Kelly and Mark in April, Zendaya opened up about her five-year hiatus from the Met Gala, noting that the event is always a bit "terrifying," even though she’s a seasoned pro.
"Going up the steps is very daunting, and I haven't been back for maybe four or five years," she said. "So this is, like, my first time back at the Met in quite a while."
She also opened up about her close partnership with stylist Roach, who she has been working with since she was 14.
"It's fun in the sense that I like to look at fashion as creativity," she said of her personal style. "Even in press tours, it's a way to continue the creativity from the film. ... I like to just create characters, because ultimately sometimes, doing this for a living feels a little weird and awkward and I'm more of a shy, introverted person, so I get to create these characters. 'I'm this woman today who wears a green suit.' You get to embody this character for a day and clothes can do that for you."
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