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The day before the Met Gala 2022, Paloma Elsesser had a bit of a wobble. Not because she had any doubts about her Coach look (it’s major, but more on that later), but because of the pressure surrounding the event. “You really want to show up as your best self,” the American model tells Vogue. “I think, for me, as a person whose centre of conversation is their body – and oftentimes I’m not one of many in these situations – I really want to deliver for my community that I care about so much.”
“Delivering” for Elsesser involves many moving parts. “I want there to be a criticality to my look; I want there to be intention; I want it to be good; I don’t want it to feel at all not myself,” says the straight-talking woman at the top of her game. “It is literally the world’s stage.” On the flip side, the exposure is also what she loves about the annual fashion fundraiser. “Whether it’s a person’s first Met or their 15th Met, it’s this profound equalizer,” explains Elsesser. “The stress is very humanizing. I love that part and the glamour. It’s so fun to be creative and think of every detail down to the shape of the nail and what the toe is giving, even if you don’t see the toe.”
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:
Met Gala 2022: See Every Celebrity Arrival, Read the Latest Stories, and Get Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Here