Met Gala 2018: The Boldest Hair and Beauty on the Red Carpet
Predictably enough for a night that brought together the fashion industry and the aesthetics of the Catholic Church, there was no shortage of headdresses to be found at the 2018 Met Gala on Monday night, which naturally starred Rihanna as the Pope. Even those who all wore headpieces, though, managed to stand apart by how they styled what came below, whether in the form of makeup like Cara Delevingne’s bright yellow accents; embellishments like Lily Collins’s and SZA’s appliqué tears; or hairstyles like Cardi B’s unabashedly bushy locks. The hair of Kendall Jenner and Sarah Jessica Parker, on the other hand, saw a sudden growth spurt—perhaps to karmically make up for the loss of Jennifer Lopez’s mermaid locks. And while there’s some commitment to admire in Bella Hadid’s choice to have a veil literally sewn into her hair, it’s hard not to find appeal in the other extreme, as showcased by Frances McDormand: Rather than fussing with her makeup and hair, she simply obscured pretty much her entire face and let the milliner Philip Treacy do the work. See their looks and more that stood out on the red carpet of the 2018 Met Gala, here.
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Lily Collins made waves early on by showing up pale as ever, accenting her headdress with rhinestones around her eyes and a single, blood-red tear.
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Now that J.Lo’s mermaid hair is clearly gone, Sarah Jessica Parker seems to have taken it upon herself to step in, going all out not only with her miniature home of a headpiece but also a swath of hair that looked to be as long as half of her body.
3
Zendaya immediately turned heads when she stepped onto the carpet, to the point that the Joan of Arc-themed armor she was wearing was a secondary talking point. Though she’s been known to change up her hair, she’s never gone as far as chopping it into an auburn bob, complete with bangs, which was so transformative she at first looked unrecognizable.
4
This year’s Met Gala could have just as easily been dubbed Madonna-themed—something that didn’t escape her holiness, who protected herself from earthlings with a fishnet veil and also managed to channel a goth Pippi Longstocking.
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Cynthia Erivo’s septum piercing looked quite understated compared to the two rows of jewels applied to her face, making the case for bejeweled eyebrows.
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Jennifer Lopez took out her extensions for the night, debuting a blunt lob just a week after walking a runway with mermaid hair that went down to her knees.
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Most would pair a crown that’s as big as their face with something like a sleek bun, but Cardi B did exactly the opposite, purposefully making it so that her bushy hair almost get just as much attention as her bedazzled face.
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In addition to her pant legs, Kendall Jenner let her newfound ponytail fly on the red carpet, which she walked with Virgil Abloh.
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Last year, Cara Delevingne showed up to the Met Gala with a silver-painted hairless head—a look she actually managed to follow up on this year with a purple pixie cut; yellow, um, earshadow; and an unmissable crown of sorts that looked like a regal, miniature set of door beads you might find at Hot Topic.
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Like Lily Collins, SZA also went down the tear route, opting for gold rather than blood-red to match her spangled headdress and glittery eyeshadow.
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The delightful peculiarity of the yellow eyeshadow seemingly haphazardly gracing Cara Delevingne’s face ended up being complimented—and arguably outshined—by Adwoa Aboah, who made the unmissable move of dying her hair bright green.
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Sasha Lane wrapped her dreadlocks in diamonds, which she piled up to make the case that the higher the hair, the closer to god.
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After asking Twitter for style advice, Solange Knowles made sure her headpiece stood apart from the rest by also topping things off with a simple black do-rag.
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Bella Hadid’s all-black latex Chrome Hearts ensemble came with a surprise in the back: a lace veil long enough to trail on the ground which, according to the New York Times, was sewn into her head.
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Pink hair is even more officially in, now that Hailey Baldwin has joined the ranks of recent converts Kim Kardashian, Michelle Williams, Paris Jackson, and Emma Roberts.
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Issae Rae carried over the gold on her Michael Kors dress to her braids, which she adorned with a variety of metallic beads.
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There’s makeup and hair, and then there’s simply calling it a day like Frances McDormand, who sat back and let one of Philip Treacy‘s ever marvelous creations do the work.
