Two years after her debut, Laufey made her anticipated return to the Met Gala 2026 red carpet. The “Madwoman” singer went with Tory Burch and donned a pearl color column gown, covered in sparkling sequins that danced under the Met’s lights. The look was complete with a matching capelet and pouch purse.
The look was created in Burch’s atelier and is full of intricate details. The glittering of the capelet is thanks to the glass beads and sequins shaped like flowers. And, the designer used hand-sculpted boning for the corset, emphasizing the shape of the dress, which holds a subtle interpretation of the theme. The look’s silhouette was designed to resemble the shape of Laufey of a cello as it’s reminiscent of the female body, an interpretation of the “Fashion Is Art” dress code honoring the “Costume Art” theme of the new exhibition which centers the different portrayals of the dressed body in art.
“Exploring the relationship between fashion and the human body, my brain went immediately to both my classical music background,” Laufey tells Teen Vogue, over a Zoom call on Monday morning as she begins to get ready for the Met Gala. I grew up playing the cello and one of the reasons I loved the cello so much was, well, to me, it sounds like a woman. It's the closest sound to the human voice, a female voice, a mother's voice, I think. And also it kind of just looks like a female body. The curves of it, it's just very similar to a female silhouette. So I immediately knew I wanted to kind of connect those dots.”
This is also a full circle moment for Laufey. “When I was growing up, every time I went to the Met, always as a kid, my favorite room to go to was the instrument room,” she says. “My favorite art in the entire museum is the old instruments that were so beautiful and so ornate and have lived forever. So immediately I was like, ‘Okay, it has to evoke, it has to kind of connect back to my cello heritage.’”
To complement the outfit, Laufey opted for simple and soft glam. She wore her long brown hair super sleek and straight. Her makeup was minimalistic too, in her typical style. As the exact reference for the dress was a glass cello in particular, Laufey wanted to bring that element of it to the look with glassy hair and skin.
Though it’s only been a couple of years since Laufey last attended the Met Gala, the singer was eager to return. “The last time was my first time and I was such a baby,” she says. “I feel like I was so scared and it felt like such a daunting thing. I was so excited, but everything was brand new and I didn't really know anyone.” Now she’s looking forward to seeing familiar faces, like some of the friends who were in her “Madwoman” music video.
In addition to her viral music video with Hudson Williams, Alysa Liu, Lola Tung, and Megan Skiendiel, she also just performed at Coachella for the very first time last, bringing her dreamy style to the California desert festival. She also just released her deluxe album and picture book, based on the beloved mascot that toured with her, Mei Mei.
“It's been so crazy. I feel like The Met is kind of like the final stop on this crazy month of work, which is such a fun way to celebrate,” she says.
See how Laufey got ready for the Met Gala below:
