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Lorde has been in full album prep mode lately, and her appearance at the Met Gala 2025 was no exception. In an interview with Emma Chamberlain, Lorde explained that her outfit was a hint at the contents of her upcoming album, Virgin, portraying how she feels “gender-wise.”
Fitting the “Tailored for You" dress code within the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style" theme, Lorde's Met Gala look was custom Thom Browne that consisted of an icy, silvery-gray corseted skirt and a backless "floating" bra top. She topped the look off with a matching suit jacket and a few touches of silver jewelry, keeping her hair and makeup quite simple. The outfit, Lorde said, was her creation, designed to make a subtle statement.
“It’s something of an easter egg,” the singer told Chamberlain on the Met Gala carpet. “All will be revealed. I just love the open back. To me it represents where I’m at gender-wise. I feel like a man and a woman, you know?” The look, Lorde said, is a take on the cummerbund, a waist sash traditionally worn by men as part of a tuxedo. Cummerbunds often have the same pleated look that the front of Lorde's outfit is made of.
Lorde's Met Gala look isn't the only way she's been experimenting with ideas around gender. On April 30, Lorde announced the title of her new album, telling fans in an email that her new work is an exercise in trying to see herself “all the way through.”
“I was trying to make a document that reflected my femininity: raw, primal, innocent, elegant, openhearted, spiritual, masc,” she wrote, according to Pitchfork. “I'm proud and scared of this album. There's nowhere to hide. I believe that putting the deepest parts of ourselves to music is what sets us free.” The announcement came alongside a reveal of the album art — an x-ray of a pelvis that showed everything, including an IUD.
In an interview with Document Journal, Lorde got even more in-depth about how her feelings on gender may be changing. She told interviewer Martine Syms that her single “What Was That” was a product of a personal rebirth, one that was accompanied by her “gender broadening.”
“I had come back from London to New York after this period of great turbulence in my personal life,” she said. “Becoming single, but also really facing my body stuff head-on, and starting to feel my gender broadening a little bit. Just being back in my house and feeling this big wave of grief. I just kept thinking, What was all of that?”
Related: Let Lorde Express Her Image In Peace
Fans have been speculating about whether Lorde is on something of a gender journey for months, with many taking note of her more masc-seeming outfits, particularly in the video for “What Was That.” But honestly, Lorde, like all of us, deserves the time and space to explore herself fully, whatever that may or may not mean.
As James Factora writes for Them, “everyone — yes, including cis people — is allowed to play with gender, and that playing with gender in your art does not necessarily have to reflect on your gender identity.” But, it also might reflect your gender identity! And that's cool too. The point is that Lorde — and anyone, really — should feel totally free to play with and explore their identity without pressure to nail anything down. Gender is, after all, a performance, and it's subject to shift and change if and when you want it to. Again, let's throw it back to Factora: “Just let Lorde cook, okay?”
