Anok Yai is something of a Met Gala titan. Since her first appearance at fashion’s biggest night out back in 2019, when she took to the red carpet in a scantily feathered Burberry shift dress, the supermodel has forged a reputation as a perennial winner, delivering some truly memorable high fashion moments. The 2025 Met Gala was hardly going to be an exception to this by now well-established rule.
Of course, last year’s look is a pretty tough one to follow, with Yai sporting one of the most spellbinding outfits of the evening. Responding to the 2024 Met exhibition theme, Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, and the gala dress code, “The Garden of Time,” she embodied the water that any garden needs to come into bloom, sporting a nude illusion bodysuit spangled with over 98,000 Swarovski crystals in hues that moved in an ombré sweep of silver to deep oceanic blue.
This year, the model’s look was no less on point, with Yai turning to Thom Browne to deliver a dress that cleverly adhered to this year’s dress code “Tailored For You”–while serving a welcome dose of resplendent, Old Hollywood glamour. The sleeveless gown’s top half comprised a figure-skimming, collared black brocade bodice, with two trompe l’oeil jacket sleeves insouciantly slung over the hip and knotted. The lower section featured a fanning hem in stiff and immaculately white fabric, resulting in a canny visual pun that translated the visual register of suiting onto a classic ballgown (and required a fleet of attendants to carry it onto the carpet unscathed).
