Art and fashion are intrinsically linked: we already knew this thanks to the “flagships” of the great fashion houses that are being erected all over the planet. But the incredible surprise was the appearance, on the red carpet at the Met Gala 2026, of Chinese-American athlete Eileen Gu. Dressed all in bubbles, Eileen perfectly illustrated the Met Gala 2026 theme of “costume art”.
A collaboration between Iris Van Herpen and A.A. Murakami
Its dazzling glass bubble dress, the “Airo dress”, was imagined by Iris Van Herpen and Studio A.A. Murakami. A passionate dancer, Iris Van Herpen’s sculptural creations are distinguished by their use of innovative materials. To achieve the desired result, she often collaborates with actors using other art forms. For the Met Gala 2026, she drew inspiration from the two artists Alexander Groves and Azusa Murakami, of the London/Tokyo-based studio A.A. Murakami. Their practice combines technology with ephemeral materials such as fog, bubbles and steam.
A modern-day Cinderella
The “Airo dress” was made up of 15,000 glass bubbles placed one by one under the garment, giving it a light, airy appearance. However, an interface of microprocessors and “blowers” produced the bubbles according to a pre-set digital program. It took the engineers and designers 15 weeks of development and 2,550 hours of work to create this living art installation.
The surreal appearance of the Olympic champion, enveloped in a cloud of bubbles, left spectators speechless: a fragile, graceful silhouette undulating on the carpet, Eileen, in her “Airo dress”, proved to be a veritable living masterpiece, bringing magic and poetry to the international event.
Photo credits: Jamie Mac Carthy / Getty images
