Nicole Kidman’s Balenciaga look at the Met Gala 2024

For the 2024 Met Gala, brand ambassador actress Nicole Kidman wore a custom Balenciaga gown that directly referenced a Couture piece designed and created by Cristóbal Balenciaga in 1951. The original piece was immortalized by Richard Avedon on Dorian Leigh in April of that year, for Harper’s Bazaar. This dress is made of a white double silk satin bustier with a tail, and is worn over a long, flared skirt with hand-frayed organza and feather-like embroidery. The dress was replicated from an original Cristobal Balenciaga sketch. The final garment differs slightly from the original idea, in that the front of the skirt is a perfect ellipse and not an indented curve. This unique piece took about 400 hours to create. It involved intricate hand-detailing in collaboration with Amal Embroideries on approximately 3,000 petals made from 150 meters of fabric. The embroidery was studied to replicate the vivid movement captured in the Avedon photograph. Inspired by his Spanish heritage, Cristóbal Balenciaga reinterpreted a flamenco dancer’s full, flounced dress. In his version, black organza petals cascade down the front of the skirt, softly framed by the cutaway of a removable white cotton overdress. This stunning modernization of an iconic design embodies the timelessness of the House’s Couture heritage, founded by M. Balenciaga and evolved today by Demna.