Zendaya marks return to Met Gala in dramatic Margiela gown: ‘No notes’

Zendaya has officially made her return to the Met Gala in style.

The Challengers star, 27, walked the steps of the Met Gala’s “green” carpet on Monday 6 May at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City – her first time attending the event since 2019. Zendaya, who is also serving as co-chair this evening, arrived wearing a peacock-coloured Maison Margiela Artisanal by John Galliano, styled by none other than Law Roach.

Her dramatic blue and green gown was a nod to Dior’s spring 1999 couture collection, which was also designed by Galliano. According to a press release, Zendaya’s dress featured bands of hand-painted metallic crin, a drape and bow layered from aluminum material, and a corsage hand-painted in electric blue and emerald green. Her outfit was completed with a Philip Treacy headpiece featuring a singular black feather, along with a fake hummingbird resting on her shoulder.

As for her makeup, the Euphoria star was inspired by Margiela’s viral 2024 runway show, where models walked the runway in porcelain-style makeup created by Pat McGrath. Her shoes were custom Tabi pumps by Christian Louboutin for Maison Margiela, while her jewellery was Bulgari – for which she’s served as brand ambassador since 2020.

Fans were unsurprisingly impressed with Zendaya’s Met Gala look, considering the Dune star has often been praised as one of the few attendees to perfectly capture each Met Gala theme.

On X, formerly Twitter, one user wrote: “Zendaya in custom Margiela by Galliano inspired by Christian Dior haute couture spring 1999. Headpiece by Philip Treacy, makeup by thee Pat McGrath herself. NO NOTES……”

“Already the best look of the night,” another fan said.

A third person said: “Oh she understood the assignment.”

The theme for the 2024 Met Gala is “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion”. The fashion extravaganza coincides with the opening of the Costume Institute’s annual exhibit, which will be centred around 50 historically significant pieces of fashion – some too fragile ever to be worn again. Nearly 250 items will be drawn from the Costume Institute’s permanent collection, featuring designs from Elsa Schiaparelli, Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, and Givenchy to span 400 years of fashion history.

Attendees are encouraged to follow the Met Gala’s dress code, loosely labelled “The Garden of Time”. The dress code takes inspiration from a short story of the same title, written by JG Ballard in 1962, which focuses on the theme of fleeting beauty. Met Gala guests can embrace the obvious by wearing florals to represent an actual garden, or wear items that signify the passing of time, like clocks.

There was much anticipation leading up to Zendaya’s return to the Met Gala, especially since her longtime stylist Law Roach revealed last week that her dress wasn’t even made yet. Speaking to The New York Times on 2 May, the celebrity stylist admitted that he hasn’t even seen the outfit Zendaya will be wearing to the Met Gala.

“I haven’t seen Zendaya’s dress! We’ve been on two press tours - Dune 2 and Challengers - and doing two Vogue covers,” Roach said, referring to Zendaya’s simultaneous cover shoots for American Vogue and British Vogue this month.

“The dress isn’t even made. They won’t fit until Saturday,” he added.

Follow for live updates from the Met Gala 2024 here.