MUMBAI : Swarovski shone on the Met Gala red carpet last night with five one-of-a-kind couture looks envisioned by Swarovski Creative Director Giovanna Engelbert, accompanied by the Spring/Summer 2024 campaign cast and friends of the House Karlie Kloss, Irina Shayk, Imaan Hammam, and Anok Yai.
Swarovski’s long heritage in the world of haute couture dates back to Paris in the 1890s, and its crystals have enhanced some of the Met Gala's most memorable red carpet looks with shimmering allure. This year is the first time that the Austrian house has created couture gowns for the occasion.
Giovanna Engelbert responded to the ‘Garden of Time’ dress code with five unique ensembles inspired by elements of Nature found in the enchanted garden of JG Ballard’s short story. Showcasing the 129-year-old brand’s artistry and savoir-faire, the couture creations were embellished with hundreds of thousands of precision-cut crystals overlaid with intricate jewels and embroidery. Each look reflected one of Swarovski’s joyful house colors - green, pink, yellow, blue, and white - completed with exquisitely-crafted jewelry pieces from its signature families, which merged with the bejeweled gowns.
Giovanna Engelbert commented: “My vision was for our muses to embody elements of nature found in the enchanted crystalline garden and for their gowns to merge with our jewelry - they metamorphose, becoming one. I wanted to bring the same level of artistry and creativity to the looks that we bring to our jewelry and to capture nature's beauty and joyful spirit as well as the elegance and extravagance of Swarovski at this important moment for fashion and pop culture.”
Karlie Kloss embodied the crystal Flower that holds the Garden of Time in its spell. Wearing an embroidered pink gown encrusted with jewels from Swarovski’s Florere and Millenia families, her dress appeared to transform into its matching floral jewelry pieces. The silk jersey gown was embroidered with 180,000 light rose crystals and took a team of seven artisans 225 hours to create. Its hourglass silhouette was accentuated by an ornate jewelled corset swathed in garlands of pink unfurling flowers and petals. It was richly embellished with 60,500 crystals and 75 Florere jewels and took a team of five artisans 1,600 hours to create.
Irina Shayk represented Air in a crystal mesh couture gown that took 200 hours to create. The form fitting look created the illusion of light skimming her body, evoking the fluid movement and ethereal nature of the element. The model’s brilliance was intensified with a bespoke Millenia choker and ear cuffs, and layers of Hyperbola and Millenia bracelets, all in luminous clear crystal.
Anok Yai became Water in a futuristic tulle catsuit embellished with glimmering ice blue, sapphire, and aquamarine crystals. Fashioned from diaphanous silk tulle embellished with 98,000 crystals to create the illusion of jewels shimmering directly on the skin, it took a team of eight over 130 hours to make. Anok’s look was complemented by a dramatic one-of-a-kind showpiece necklace from Swarovski’s Galaxy fine jewelry collection which was crafted with 1,050 lab-grown Swarovski Created Diamonds in seven different cuts with a total weight of 156.62 carats.
Imaan Hammam represented Sun in a golden two-piece look comprising a crystallized cape inspired by Swarovski’s Gema collection and a satin column skirt embellished with a mix of gold crystals. It took a team of seven artisans 14 days to create the cape, which was embellished with 3,456 crystals in a mix of six cuts and five tones. The satin skirt was embroidered with 100,000 crystals. Imaan's radiance was enhanced with a suite of intricate Gema jewelry in a palette of golden hues.
Giovanna Engelbert embodied Nature in an intricately beaded emerald green silk satin gown which was inspired by a landscape by Viennese artist Gustav Klimt. The bustier was encrusted with rows of green dégradé Millenia crystals, while the dress was embroidered with green Gema jewels fading into crystal mesh in peridot green. It took a team of artisans over 900 hours to embroider the gown with 20,000 crystals and 35,000 bicone beads in shades of green. Giovanna’s look was completed with matching crystallized gloves and jewelry pieces from Swarovski’s Sublima.
For the after party, the Swarovski muses wore dazzling crystal mesh mini dresses in the brand colors of green, pink, yellow and blue, complementing their Met Gala looks.
The Austrian house worked with a team of exceptional artisans to construct, embellish, and embroider the five couture creations with hundreds of thousands of crystals and jewels. Last night Swarovski’s shimmering gowns, which required weeks of finely detailed savoir-faire to create, illuminated the Met Gala red carpet like jewelry pieces in their own right.
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