Nicole Kidman Prepares for the Met Gala in Matthieu Blazy's First Chanel Couture Gown
Vogue
In this Vogue video, Met Gala co-chair Nicole Kidman gets ready for the evening at the Greenwich Hotel in New York. She and members of her glam team talk about her return to Chanel, the deep red sequined gown made for her by Chanel designer Matthieu Blazy, and the night ahead. Their shared view is that fashion is collaborative art, from the designer and atelier to the stylist, makeup artist, and hairstylist. Kidman also describes how it feels to take on this role at this stage of her life, with her daughter beside her.
Coming Back to Chanel
The video opens with a small joke about height. Kidman gives a measurement of 5 feet 10 and a quarter inches and laughs, "I'm always like, 'I'm not 5' 11".'"
She then talks about her long history with Chanel. She says she has been associated with the house for "so many decades" and finds it "beautiful" to return "at this time in my life," now that Blazy is designing. She remembers staying with Karl Lagerfeld in Biarritz and later appearing in the Chanel cruise show there. Now she is doing the Met in New York with Blazy.
Kidman stresses that this is a first. According to her, Blazy has not yet designed a couture dress for the Met Gala, so she gets to wear the first one. When they first discussed her return to the house, she recalls, Blazy told her he loved what she had done with Lagerfeld and Chanel. He said it had been part of his own development, mentioning the Chanel No. 5 commercial and the dress she wore in it. "I think we were just meant to be," she says.
She describes Blazy as "such a gentle person" and "so exquisitely talented." She says she felt he would take care of her and be "loving" and "generous of spirit," and that you can feel this "in his designs" and "in his essence." She finds "an ease and a beauty" in his work and calls wearing his clothes "an incredible privilege." She also admits the honor makes her anxious: she is often stressed because she hopes she can "do them justice."
The Stylist's View: Kidman as Collaborator and "Lady Couture"
Her stylist, credited in the description as Jason Bolden, frames the work in terms of art. Because the evening is rooted in a museum, he says, it naturally calls up art and history, and it helps to collaborate with someone who is an artist. He describes his own work as an art form too. In his telling, Kidman "leans into you" and lets her collaborators "just be free."
He calls her one of the greatest collaborators he has worked with because she is "incredibly fearless." He says she can inhabit the "beautiful characters" they build together. He links this to her many Oscar nominations and her standing as a celebrated artist, saying it comes from her love of collaborating with talented people.
He ties her identity closely to couture: "She is couture," he says, adding that every carpet she has walked has been couture. He jokes that Chanel and couture both start with "C," and that the team privately calls her "Lady Couture." He is also enthusiastic about Blazy, saying the designer is "blowing this beautiful fresh air back into Chanel" and enhancing the house's DNA. He found Blazy open to listening and to feeling what others were saying, and calls the collaboration "easy and spectacular."
Building the Dress Around Her
Kidman explains how the gown came together. They talked first, then had a fitting in Biarritz, then made more adjustments. Blazy, she says, "sees it and then he creates it more and creates it more." She repeats something she has always said: she loves "being the doll," standing still while a garment is designed around her body.
The stylist says he brought several ideas, and one color kept "jumping off the page": red. He points out that red is dynamic in the history of painting. To him it draws people in and is sensual and strong while still feeling effortless.
He also describes how uncertain the process is. On the day of the Met itself, he says, he still had not seen the dress on her. He had seen photos and joined FaceTime calls, but had not actually seen and felt it in person. He presents this as part of what makes the collaboration "beautiful," though he notes it is "not as easy as you think."
Makeup: Harmonizing Skin With the Gown
The makeup artist, credited as Gucci Westman, says the goal is to make Kidman "the most gorgeous version of herself" and help her feel "the most confident she's ever felt." The focus is on making her complexion beautiful and in harmony with the dress. They say the finish and quality of skin is what they have always been known for. People often tell them they can recognize their work by the skin, which they take as a compliment.
One team member says they have worked with Kidman consistently for about four years. They also recall doing a Vogue cover with her years earlier in the English countryside, while pregnant with their second child.
The Labor Behind the Look
The stylist returns to how much work goes into a single gown. Beyond his own role, he says, many people touch the dress, from the ateliers to those who simply carry things. He describes this as "a lot of energy" and "a lot of passion," and treats the effort itself as a large art form. In his phrasing, from start to finish "a slice of an artist has touched this moment."
Kidman describes the weight of being co-chair. As host, she says, you are "the steward," greeting everyone and standing at the top of the museum's "magnificent stairs." She feels the iconic meaning of the Met, its art, and its history.
Hair as Language
The hairstylist, credited as Adir Abergel, talks about long hair "elongation" forming around the body "as a language." He calls hair a powerful tool historically and cites Tina Turner, Dolly Parton, and Cher as people whose hair comes to mind when you think of them. "Hair walks into the room first a lot of the time," he says. He describes it as self-expression that reflects where a person is in life. He remembers haircuts more than many other things, for better and for worse, and jokes that people sometimes get over things by getting a bad haircut. He calls hair "one of your greatest accessories" and says that tonight he used it "as a form of art."
The Gown: Flat Beading, Feathers, and a "Candy Apple" Red
The stylist describes the finished dress. It is covered in flat beading, and feathers trim the cuff and cascade through the waistline. He says the effect "feels like liquid," as if Kidman has been "dipped in such this beautiful candy apple." Saying that aloud makes him connect the red to New York and "the Big Apple." He promises "great artful plays" in the look that night. One team member also says they are working with someone named Clé de Peau that day and are excited to see the final look.
Red, Love, and Her Daughter
At the end, Kidman reflects more personally. She says wearing clothes was something she could do from childhood because she was so tall, and it is "lovely" to still be asked to do it at this point in her life. She is bringing her daughter to the gala. Kidman says her daughter is "blooming" and that her outfit shows it: "It's springtime, it's blossoming, it's blooming." Kidman herself wears red, which she calls "the deepest form of love." She finds meaning in being "her loving mother while she is blossoming."
Her parting thoughts are hopes, not conclusions. She hopes it will be "a great night" with "beautiful beautiful creations," because "we're seeing fashion as art." She ends with "Let's have some fun." One team member sums up the feeling about the stairs: when everything comes together and you walk up them, "something magic happens."
5' 10" and 3' 1/4".
I'm always like, "I'm not 5' 11"."
I've had so many decades now where I've been associated with Chanel, but to be able to come back at this time in my life is beautiful, and with Matthieu now designing. But I was talking about how I used to go and stay with Karl in Biarritz, and then we did the cruise show in Biarritz, and now I'm doing the Met here with Matthieu. I'm wearing the first time his collection has been shown in terms of the Met. He hasn't designed a couture dress for the Met Gala yet, so I get to wear the first.
When we were talking initially about me coming back to the house, he just said, "I loved what you did with Karl and with Chanel, and it was part of my evolution in terms of the Chanel No. 5 commercial and that dress that I wore." And I think we were just meant to be. He pulled me in because he's such a gentle person, but he's so exquisitely talented, and I just felt he'll take care of me, and he'll be loving, and he'll be generous of spirit. You can just feel that. You can feel that in his designs. You can feel that in his essence.
I think there's an ease and a beauty to what he does. So it's an incredible privilege to be able to wear his clothes. A lot of times I'm stressed because I'm like, "I hope I can do them justice."
The magical thing about working with someone like Nicole is she is a true artist. And to start from the museum, and you think about art, you think about history, it's actually great to collaborate with someone who is an artist. And Nicole is such an artist, and also what I do is an art form, and she kind of leans into you and pours into this idea of letting you just be free.
Nicole is one of the greatest collaborators I've ever worked with because she is incredibly fearless. She can get into these beautiful characters that we kind of build together. No wonder she's been nominated many times for an Oscar, and no wonder she's one of our greatest celebrated artists, right? Because she loves collaborating with talent.
I have been working with her, I think it's maybe consistently about four years. I did actually do a cover of Vogue with Nicole years ago in the English countryside. I think I was pregnant with my second at the time.
Her ongoing story with Chanel is couture. She is couture. We think about it from every carpet that Nicole has ever touched, it's couture. So that's the house that's so identifiable with that word. That's why I'm pretty sure they both start with the letter C, because Chanel couture. And we have this internal joke that she's Lady Couture.
But who I'm such a fan, and what he's doing, blowing this beautiful fresh air back into Chanel, the DNA that he's really kind of enhanced is so important. It's nice to collaborate with someone who is open to listening and feeling what you're saying. So the collaboration was easy and spectacular.
We talked, then we had a fitting in Biarritz, and then we adjusted again, and he just keeps—he sees it and then he creates it more and creates it more. And that's what I've always said is that I love being the doll. I love standing there and having it designed around your body.
So I came up with a couple ideas, and we talked about some things, and this color red just kept jumping off the page for me. And it's something to note in history that red is such a dynamic color when you think of most paintings, and it's something that just draws people, and it's very dynamic, and it's very sensual, and it's very strong, and yet at the same time effortless.
It's not as easy as you think because a lot of the time I still have not seen the dress on. This is the day of the Met, you guys, okay? And I still have not seen the dress on. I have seen photos, I did some FaceTime, but to actually visually feel and see, I have not done that. And so it's a beautiful process of collaboration.
My intention is to make her the most gorgeous version of herself, and just make her feel the most confident she's ever felt. I want to make sure that her complexion looks as beautiful and harmonizes with the dress as humanly possible. The finish of the skin, the complexion, I've always been known for that. People often say to me they can tell when I've done the makeup because of the quality of the skin, which is such a nice compliment.
So you know what people don't understand? This is a lot of work. It's a lot, a lot of work, and outside of me, it is the people who all touch this gown, from the ateliers to people who just carry these things. It's a lot of work, and it's a lot of energy, and it's a lot of passion that goes into it. And that's a piece for me that's a large art form as well. So when you think about art as fashion, it's like we, from start to finish, a slice of art, a slice of an artist has touched this moment.
It's a lot. You're the steward, you're greeting everybody, you're standing at the top of those magnificent stairs, you're standing there with that iconic sort of feeling of what the Met represents, the museum and art, and there's so much history.
When hair has this incredible elongation, it can form around the body as a language, ultimately. And I think hair is a very powerful tool and has been for many, many years. When you think of Tina Turner, you think of her hair. When you think of Dolly Parton, you think of her hair. When you think of Cher, you think of her hair. Hair walks into the room first a lot of the time. It is about self-expression, where you are in your life, right?
I can remember haircuts more than I can remember a lot of things. Sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad. We sometimes got over by getting a bad haircut. Hair is one of your greatest accessories, and tonight I used it as a form of art.
This particular dress is covered in this most amazing flat beading. There's these feathers that trim the cuff, and they cascade throughout her waistline, and it's something about it that just feels like liquid. It's literally like she's been dipped in this beautiful candy apple. It kind of feels that way, and even just saying that out loud is just something that just—the color red is so symbolic for me with New York, the Big Apple and things like that. There's all these great artful plays for what you're going to see tonight with this dress.
I'm really excited for what the final look will be. Today I'm working with Clé de Peau, and I'm excited to get going.
When you have it all together and you're walking up those stairs, something magic happens.
Partly being able to wear clothes was something I could do ever since I was little because I was so tall, and it's lovely to be still asked to do that at this time of my life. And then to be able to bring my daughter who's blooming, and what she's wearing tonight shows that. It's springtime, it's blossoming, it's blooming, and I'm wearing red, which is the deepest form of love. It represents love. And so to be her loving mother while she is blossoming is kind of lovely.
I hope it's going to be a great night. I hope we're going to see beautiful, beautiful creations because we're seeing fashion as art, and let's go. Let's have some fun.
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