Lori Harvey Left Her 2022 Met Gala Look to the Experts
Technically, this is Lori Harvey’s second Met Gala—but she isn’t really thinking about it that way. Last time she attended the event, back in 2017, Harvey had just turned 20 and was invited by Dolce & Gabbana after starring in their #DGMillennials campaign. “I was so nervous,” Harvey recalls to W. “I remember standing there, in front of the carpet, just watching everybody walk by.” Despite urging from the ushers working the event, Harvey could not get herself to walk the steps. “Eventually, they were like, ‘Ma’am, it’s done. The carpet is closing.’ I didn’t even realize, and I just had to run up the stairs.” Because of that snafu, Harvey is considering this year the first time she’s “really experiencing” the red carpet. “I was just so overwhelmed and taking everything in the first time. So tonight is really the moment.”
Harvey’s confidence this time around is no doubt bolstered by the fact that she’s attending the event at the behest of Michael Kors, whom Harvey considers “one of the most iconic American designers there is.” Harvey and Kors first met last summer, when she starred in a campaign for the brand. “It was love at first sight,” Harvey says. So, when the team called her about about attending the Gala, she didn’t give it a second thought. “It was an absolute yes.”
“Love at first sight” could also be the phrase used to describe how Harvey felt when she first saw her dress for the evening. Kors had sent a handful of sketches her way, but one immediately stuck out: a black gown with a halter top and two swaths of fabric floating behind her. “I immediately was like, ‘That's the one,’” she says. “I had no notes. It didn't need any changes.” Harvey trusted Kors to work his magic. The same goes for her glam, which she also left up to experts—her longtime makeup artist and hairstylist, Courtney Kareem and Ray Christopher. “I just emphasized that I wanted glamor, elegance, and opulence.” Below, follow Harvey throughout her day of pampering as she prepped for her return to the Met Gala.
Harvey grabs a bite to eat while Kareem gets started on her makeup. “I’m just letting her do her thing,” Harvey says of her makeup artist, who also happens to be her best friend. “She knows me so well, what I like and don’t like. I just asked to let the skin shine through.”
When it came to hair, Harvey decided to stick to her go-to style, a bun, while giving it “a high fashion edge.” Christopher finished off the style with a few pieces framing the model’s face, and crystals placed throughout to add a touch more glamour.
Gismondi provided Harvey with an array of jewels to choose from for the night, but the emerald cut diamond ring is what initially caught her eye. “It’s over 46 carats,” she tells W. “It’s insane.”
“When I think of Gilded Glamour, I think of opulence,” Harvey says. “It’s just over-the-top, regal fashion.”
Harvey describes her final look as “very Michael Kors, but still very Lori Harvey.”
Harvey poses with Kors before walking the Met Gala red carpet for the first time since 2017.
