LONDON — Few independent designers left a mark as remarkable as Robert Wun did at this year’s Met Gala red carpet, dressing a total of eight guests, including Blackpink member Lisa, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter inside the venue, tennis star Naomi Osaka; producer Jordan Roth; Indian businesswoman Ananya Birla; “K-pop Demon Hunter” singer Audrey Nuna; salmon fish farming heir Gustav Magnar Witzøe, and Thai editor and luxury brand consultant Nichapat Suphap.
“The management of dressing all of them wasn’t particularly challenging. I was expecting the worst,” Wun told WWD in an exclusive interview the following day of the fashion fundraiser for the Met’s Costume Institute.
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The London-based designer, originally from Hong Kong, who shows on the Haute Couture calendar in Paris, said most of his clients got in touch months ahead of time, leaving him enough time to accommodate each of their needs.
“Logistically, it wasn’t as bad as I thought, but it’s still challenging. There’s a lot of back and forth, and even until the day before, we’re still working until 3 a.m. in the New York atelier,” Wun said.
Wun is no stranger to the Met Gala. This year marked his fourth time contributing looks to the red carpet.
But the designer said the look he proposed for Lisa, the only Blackpink member this year who didn’t wear a look from the brands they endorse, is “something truly special.”
“When I propose a design for a moment worth fighting for, especially on the carpet, such as the Met Gala, I would try to propose something that maybe the artist has never tried before, or not usually a direction they would be willing to explore. I was very pleasantly surprised when they [Lisa’s team] actually confirmed to go ahead with that look,” Wun said.
“Everything leading up to finally getting to meet her a few days before the Met Gala in New York. She has been nothing but sweet, kind and willing. Although the veil and armpiece are so heavy. I think it’s about five kilograms in weight. At the end, when she had to be on the carpet by herself. She literally just owned it like a champion. You don’t feel like she is carrying all that weight on her shoulders. She simply shone, and I have so much respect for her,” he added.
The look in question was a fully crystallized embroidery sheer gown and veil in ivory, capturing the concept of “the bride lifting up her own veil.” The piece consisted of 66,960 white Swarovski crystal embroidery with a total of 2,860 hours of handwork.
As for the Stargaze Gown that Beyoncé Knowles-Carter wore on the podium of the 2026 Met Gala, Wun revealed that the conversation with her team started last December.
“There are over 20 rounds, I believe, of design sketches, and a lot of conversation back and forth. A lot of personal notes on what she loves,” he added.
“The gown is really about the perspective of how the stars would look down on earth, and seeing our golden coastline at night, like what you would see on a plane. When I spoke about the idea, she said she found that look also on social media, she screencapped it, shared it with us, and she said like ‘Yeah I think this is the one.’
“There were a lot of quite special and directional moments throughout this whole custom with her, and of course, it is an honor to dress the co-chair of this year’s Met Gala and to be part of her big return,” Wun said.
Knowles-Carter made her Met Gala debut in 2008 in an Armani Privé gown and attended the event regularly throughout the first half of the 2010s, appearing in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 — largely in a run of custom Givenchy gowns. On this year’s red carpet, she wore a custom design by Olivier Rousteing, joined by her 14-year-old daughter Blue Ivy Carter.
The designer added that Knowles-Carter’s look, which consists of 3,180,000 stitches of embroidery with a total of 4,340 hours of handwork, had the highest amount of work that the brand has ever put into a look.
“Even when we got to New York, the amount of work that we carried out just to make sure all the embroideries were perfect, and the veil sat right. I have to give all the credit and all my love to my incredible team. They have worked so hard on this look, and to be able to see that come together inside the museum as well has been truly phenomenal,” he added.
The 2026 Met Gala took place on Monday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. This year’s exhibition, “Costume Art,” celebrated fashion as an art form, with a dress code of “Fashion Is Art.” The event was cochaired by Knowles-Carter, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams and Anna Wintour, with Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos serving as honorary chairs.