“Just thousands of crystals,” is how Dame Pat McGrath opens the call with Vogue describing Lil Nas X’s transformation into a “modern version of a cat.” Would you expect anything less than an artistic nod to the world’s most famous feline for the year’s “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” exhibition? After workshopping the concept together for a week, Lil Nas X and McGrath met up in New York City this morning at 9 am to begin work on the “Choupette-inspired” design that extended from face to body. “It’s really taken to new, three-dimensional crystal and pearl levels,” says McGrath. It also required a team of people to “fly all over the globe to find all of the pieces” for their creation, which included “couture lace from 25 years ago” and “crystals from Austria” to deliver the materials for what became a nine-hour-long metamorphosis.
It was Lil Nas X and Pat McGrath’s first project together, and fittingly for the most celebrated night in fashion. “Lil Nas enjoyed every single moment,” says McGrath of spending the day laughing and working as a team. And naturally, that joy extended to the red carpet, where Lil Nas X sauntered (and shimmered!) around to convincing, cat-like effect.
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