It took grit to wear a dress made of sand up the Met steps — and a few helping hands.
Tyla’s showstopping Balmain gown made of sand, which required her to be carried step by step toward the museum’s doors on Monday evening, needed some post-carpet tailoring.
The dress’ structured bodice was custom-made for the 22-year-old “Water” singer using a plaster body mold, but the organza train was stylistic collateral after the Grammy winner walked — or rather, was carried up — the Met stairs.
In a video posted to Instagram, Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing can be seen cutting — with an impressively steady hand — a new hemline for the lavish bustier gown, an ode to the “sands of time,” while other photos also show the back of the dress sliced open.
To fit the dress code “Garden of Time” — a nod to the new exhibition “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” — the custom Met Gala dress was made of three colors of sand and shimmering micro crystals, transforming Tyla into a walking hourglass. The timepiece, ironically, served as her handbag.
It’s not unheard of to be unable to move properly in an avant-garde gala gown, but Tyla’s dress — and Rousteing’s matching top with his profile imposed into the grit — is a new wave of innovation and one with puzzling mechanics.
While it’s unclear just how the South African singer slipped into the gown in the first place, an additional clip posted to Rousteing’s Instagram Story shows Balmain designer Eddy Anemian sanding down the bust of the architectural gown that was skintight on Tyla’s body ahead of the big night.
In fact, the Balmain team traveled to New York with a bag of sand packed into their luggage to ensure the dress would be in perfect condition.
When asked on the carpet how she would sit at dinner inside the Met after being carried up the carpet, she replied: “Who cares, guys? I’m cute!”
Rousteing told the Hollywood Reporter that the mold of Tyla’s body was created months ago with the intention of displaying the gown — which took 200 hours to create — in the museum after the one-time wear.
“What is sleeping beauty? ‘Sleeping Beauty’ for me [means] you can dress once in a lifetime,” he said.
The young musician said she was thinking outside of the (sand)box for her first Met Gala — Balmain’s idea, she told Vogue, “was crazy and I loved it.”
“The inspiration behind this creation stemmed from a desire to redefine boundaries and transform a transient material into an everlasting masterpiece,” Rousteing, who has helmed Balmain as the creative director for more than a decade, told Vogue.
“The idea of sculpting a garment from something as ephemeral as sand ignited my imagination, and I could not be happier with the end result.”
Rousteing said he believes “Tyla pushes the boundaries of music in a similar way that I push the boundaries of fashion with Balmain,” so it was a no-brainer to dress the up-and-coming singer.
“I could not think of a better woman to wear this look that I feel is a manifestation of imagination, innovation, and the transformative power of art,” he added.
Not only is the gown a nod to the passage of time, but it also is a technical design feat, similar to those revered in the Costume Institute’s latest installation.
The gallery will display 250-some garments this spring. The “sleeping beauties” in question are archival pieces too fragile to ever be worn again, some brought to life using 3D printing and new-age tech.
