All the Beautiful Details of Maya Hawke’s Exquisite Met Gala Wedding Dress

Actor Maya Hawke arrived at the steps of the Met Gala dressed as a bride, veil and all. “I have a feeling if I ever get married it will be in white cotton pajamas, so we thought why not put on a fancy white dress for once in your life?” Hawke tells Vogue.

The Stranger Things actor and her stylist Harry Lambert worked with the Prada team to create a bridal look that explores the idea of beauty and celebrates fine craftsmanship. The finished result was a minidress adorned with exquisite flowers, delicate gazar bows and an equally embellished ivory cape. “Karl Lagerfeld was known for doing wedding dresses in his couture shows and this felt like a really perfect moment for us to do something very creative and fun and see what Prada’s version of a wedding dress would be,” explains Lambert. “We looked through past collections and shows and used that to influence what a Prada wedding dress would look like.”

The result is an incredibly ornate couture-like gown, with hundreds of tiny flowers adorned to the dress and cape, but a sense of modernity comes through thanks to the minidress silhouette and the unexpected flat shoes and sheer tights. “I love the details of the little flowers, the drama of the coat, and the walkability of the heels,” adds Hawke.

“The floral appliqué is incredible and must have taken them hours and hours to apply it to the cape and the dress,” adds Lambert. “What I love is that when you remove the cape it’s a beautiful, but very wearable dress. Maya said to me ‘when I get married I can’t imagine myself ever wearing something like this’ – so to get to wear it to the Met Gala makes it feel even more special as it isn’t something she’d normally wear.”

In true bridal fashion the team brought something old and borrowed into the styling choices, with a family red carpet heirloom. “Prada has made a bag for the party as well and it’s inspired by when Uma Thurman went to the Oscars with Prada in 1995 and she had a bag exactly the same as Maya’s. We did a little nod to her mum there,” Lambert explains.

Prada’s autumn/winter 2023 collection was an exploration of beauty and introduced ways you can dress like it is your wedding day, every day. “We take pieces from a special occasion, or created for one day like a wedding gown, and here it becomes everyday. Why should this celebration of love be for only a single day?” Raf Simons said at the time of the concept. The result was a mash-up of basic items with traditional bridal motifs, for example appliquéd white lace skirts were styled with practical crew-neck jumpers in camel or charcoal.

The pair had already been working on this Met Gala wedding dress before seeing the collection back in February. “Maya and I went to the show, and someone said from the Prada team ‘Oh! I think you are going to love this show!” explains Lambert. “It was amazing to see these nods to bridal come down the runway, and see the beginning of our Met Gala moment. It’s a beautiful transition.”

One of these bridal nods is Hawke’s Met Gala shoes, as 13 looks included a pair of white pumps with folded bows or floral embellishment on the knife-edge toes. They certainly have a bridal feel and are likely to be a popular choice with fashion-forward brides in 2024, however Prada showed they can look just as beautiful worn with black tailored trousers as a wedding gown. The low heel of these pumps added a nonchalance, typical of Karl Lagerfeld’s aesthetic, to her Met Gala ensemble.

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