Iman in Dolce & Gabbana x Harris Reed
Met Gala 2021
Designer: Harris Reed
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Harris Reed is a British-American fashion designer and creative director for French fashion house Nina Ricci.
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​Started with a phone call from Anna Wintour + her team inviting him to first ever Met Gala with the support of Dolce & Gabbana’s atelier to create his biggest, most fluid vision
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Step 1: The Sketch
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Went straight into researching Pinterest books
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Anything to bring inspiration before sketching process
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Images that really stood out: 18th Century Cages
Step 1: The Sketch
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Idea of taking up a space in the way of ‘I deserve to be here and I own it’
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Trickled in from seeing 1920s showgirl references, Bellini films, cage that was built for a chicken coop
All of these things inspired by queer and individuals from different backgrounds and how they brought their individuality to the forefront
Running theme of grandeur and this larger than life idea
Step 2: Personalization
Had 25 days to make three feathered headpieces, a full cage, fully feathered, fully gold-leaved, a pair of flares, a corset and a bustier
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Iman had to love what he did
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The designer jumped on a call with Iman, sketch in hand, and nothing more than a little dream and a little piece of paper
Step 3: Materialization
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The support of Dolce & Gabbana atelier gave designer access to dream fabric
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Make or break situation
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If it is the wrong fabric, the outfit is destroyed
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What is going to create the rays
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Designer decided it was feathers
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Had this vision of it being these really intense rays
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Wanted Iman to look like a beam of light
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Had to try so many different kinds of feathers to really get the right texture
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Found a local supplier in London who had the exact amount of stock and could do a treatment to them that would then allow designers to do gold leafing, gold appliqué, and the gold fan brushing technique
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Step 4: Construction
Help of interns
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Hand crafting each leaf and gold appliqué
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Have to hand sew each of the layers of the feathers onto the crinoline
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Trousers, bustier, cage, and hat- order of completion
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First thing they started with were the trousers
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Flare had to be just right for Iman
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5 hoops in total, bottom hoop is the biggest one
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Over a day to do the first three, could take another few days to complete
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Step 4: Construction
Business manager must figure out how they are going to get the design shipped to New York
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Working with delicate pieces
Celebrity did not see outfit until it was complete
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Had to do quick try on in New York
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First fitting ever, making sure trousers fit and seams are giving amazing support
Step 5: Day of the Met
Whole crew of people assembling outfit when Iman gets to gala
Earrings are designed by Rebecca Selva at Fred Leighton specifically for the outfit
Designer talks about how doing an outfit of this magnitude without any previous fittings, they knew they were going to have to do some tweaking but didn’t realize how much tweaking they were going to have to do
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Spent 400 hours in total making the skirt from the start in London to the finish in NY
Step 6: What You See On the Carpet
