With a dress code centered around “The Garden of Time,” Monday night’s Met Gala was bound to bring out some fantastic gowns from the fashion history books. And one person who delivered on that front was Kendall Jenner.
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In case you’ve not seen, Kendall stunned in a 25-year-old Givenchy Couture dress designed by the late Alexander McQueen, complete with some serious shoulder fringe and a very daring cutout on the butt.
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The piece, adorned with over 100,000 black and brass beads and sequins, is quite the work of art. Not only that, but it’s a historical artifact, too — having never previously been worn by a living person.
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For a bit of context, when the dress was presented in McQueen’s autumn/winter 1999 Givenchy Haute Couture collection, it was only ever shown on a mannequin. And after that, it was moved straight into the Givenchy archive.
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This meant that when Kendall and her stylist, Dani Michelle, fell in love with the gown a quarter of a century later, she was the “first human” ever to try it on.
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“It’s been sleeping for the last 25 years. It’s literally a ‘sleeping beauty,’” Kendall told Vogue ahead of the big night, paying homage to the basis of this year’s Costume Institute exhibit, Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.
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“It’s such a special moment,” she added. “I feel extremely honored that they’re allowing me to wear it.”
Because the garment had been preserved in pristine condition for so long, Kendall and her team were also strictly forbidden from making any alterations, meaning it was a “miracle” that it was a perfect fit when it was time to try it on.
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“I am so, so incredibly honored to wear it. I am the first human to wear it,” she told La La Anthony on the red carpet as the gown made its Met Gala debut. “It was a miracle that it fit. It was a miracle that we found it. It just feels meant to be.”
Since Kendall’s red-carpet interview, photographs of Winona Ryder wearing the same Givenchy dress in 1999 have surfaced online, leading fans to speculate that Kendall was misinformed about being the first to wear the gown. However, The Cut has since debunked the confusion, reporting that the dress worn by Winona was actually a replica.
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Speaking to Vogue, Dani said the dress — which will soon return home to the archive — was a nod to the “darker queen of a Sleeping Beauty story,” with Kendall adding that the night’s theme “screamed archival.”
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“The way it’s cut in the back, and the low butt — all these beautiful things feel very me,” she said.
