After taking nearly a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, fashion’s biggest night—aka the Met Gala— finally made it’s epic return last night. Co-chaired by singer Billie Eilish, actor Timothee Chalamet, tennis star Naomi Osaka, and poet Amanda Gorman, the star-studded annual fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute brought designers, models, and some of Hollywood’s biggest stars together to celebrate the opening of newest fashion exhibition, “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.”
With this year’s dress code centered around celebrating American fashion—a theme that can honestly be interpreted in so many different ways, the red carpet was pretty chaotic to say the least. In terms of hair, we saw quite the range: old Hollywood ringlets, retro hairstyles that channeled the ’60s and ‘70s, custom colored buzzcuts, sculptural updos, and a whole lot of hair accessories. Regardless of the direction that each attendee took with their hair look, everyone totally slayed the red carpet in their own special way.
Ahead, we rounded up some of the 2021 Met Gala hairstyles that we can’t stop thinking about.
Keke Palmer
Keke Palmer was serving Diana Ross realness with her voluminous crown of curls styled by hairstylist Miles Jeffries.
Megan Fox
Megan Fox rocked the most perfect pin-up fringe and braided pony thanks to her stylist Andrew Fitzsimons. According to Fitzsimons, the star’s blunt bangs were inspired by the American pin-up queen, Bettie Page.
Teyana Taylor
Teyana Taylor brought straight elegance sporting gorgeous goddess locs from locsmith, Wild.Flow.Her. Her stunning updo was styled by hairstylist Ky Johnson who wove a super blinged-out diamond chain through her locs.
Amanda Gorman
Amanda Gorman channeled Lady Liberty last night, rocking a super fierce high braided pony by hairstylist LaRae. The star accessorized the stunning look with a diamond laurel wreath from Vera Wang—a nod to her experience as a National Youth Poet Laureate.
Amandla Stenberg
Amandla Stenberg looked cool as ever rocking a durag made completely out of cornrows—a first for her hairstylist Vernon Francois. According to Francois, who used Dyson hair tools and Redken haircare products to create this look, her braided durag “complements, elevates, and balances her overall look, while reflecting the theme of the night.”
Grimes
Dune may not be out in theaters yet, but that didn’t stop Grimes from being inspired by the sci-fi film. The star turned to hairstylist Owen Gould to dream up this futuristic spiral ponytail for her metallic pink dyed locks.
Jennifer Lopez
Forget Jenny from the block—last night, Jennifer Lopez totally served us Jenny from the Wild Wild West sporting a cowboy hat on top of a super long, tousled pony by hairstylist Lorenzo Martin for Wella Professionals.
To create this pony, Martin added Great Lengths 20” Tape-ins and teased the hair with GHD Tail Comb at the roots before clipping in for an extra hold. After that, he curled the hair with GHD Curve Soft Curl Iron and then mixed Wella EIMI Dry Me Shampoo along with the Wella Shape Shift Molding Gum with Shine Finish for texture, before securing the hair into a tight pony. Lastly, he misted with Wella EIMI Glam Mist to complete the look!
Gabrielle Union
Using all Flawless haircare products, hairstylist Larry Sims styled the most incredible sleek high pony for Gabrielle Union that swooped across her forward.
Carey Mulligan
With Carey Mulligan’s bright pink Valentino dress making such a statement on its own, hairstylist and Olivia Garden Ambassador Kylee Heath decided to keep the hair classic yet modern, opting for a ponytail inspired by Audrey Hepburn.
To create this look, Heath first prepped the hair with Hair Ritual by Sisley-Paris products before drying Mulligan’s hair with the Olivia Garden Ceramic + Ion Hair Dryer and Olivia Garden ThermoVent Round Brush in size 2 ½ . Next, starting at the bangs and the tops section of the hair, she used the Olivia Garden ThermoVent Brush in size 1 ¾ to add bend to Mulligan’s bangs so they laid across her forehead.
After that, she sectioned the remaining hair with the Olivia Garden CarboSilk Comb before pulling the back section into a ponytail with an elastic and smoothing the side parts into the ponytail. She followed up by teasing the ponytail all over to ensure volume.
Lupita Nyong’o
Lupita Nyong’o’s asymmetrical sculpted afro styled by hairstylist Vernon Francois totally left us speechless. According to Francois, the star’s hair was inspired by the works of Brooklyn-born conceptual artist Lorna Simpson. “Her take on hair textures is powerful, and I wanted to imitate the effortless wave and movement that she conveys in her work,” said the stylist.
Tracee Ellis Ross
Tracee Ellis Ross paid homage to Grace Jones’ 1986 film Vamp and her mother Diana Ross’s iconic role in the 1975 film Mahogany with this super blunt bob styled by hairstylist Latisha Chong.
Leon Bridges
Leon Bridges repped true Texas style sporting a blinged-out hat atop hair jewels styled by barber and hairstylist Lindsay Rogers.
Kim Petras
Kim Petras made all the horse girls proud with her floor-grazing braided ponytail styled by hairstylist Iggy Rosales that totally mimicked a horse’s mane.
Frank Ocean
Frank Ocean turned heads sporting a lime-green buzzcut that perfectly matched his slime green robot baby—one of the weirdest plus ones we’ve ever seen in Met Gala history.
Russell Westbrook
Russell Westbrook had us all seeing stars (literally) when he showed up rocking custom negative space star-spangled hair thanks to hair artist Sarah Dee.
Barbie Ferreira
We were big fans of the Old Hollywood-inspired ringlets that hairstylist Malcom Marquez created for Barbie Ferreira. They perfectly complement her pearl-encrusted Jonathan Simkhai gown.
Saweetie
Saweetie was dripping in bling from head-to-toe thanks to her hairstylist Jason Haiir who bedazzled her platinum bob with sparkling jewels.
Evan Mock
For fashion’s biggest night, Gossip Girl star Evan Mock opted for a spiked full leather face mask. He eventually revealed that hiding underneath the mask was his signature pink short buzzcut.
Yara Shahidi
Yara Shadidi looked the picture of elegance sporting flawless curls, braids, and baby hairs styled by hair artist Fesa Nu. According to Nu, the star’s look was inspired by Josephine Baker.
Maisie Williams
Maisie Williams ditched her blonde hair and eyebrows to channel The Matrix with her look. We’re totally living for her for glossy black sculptural hair.
Billie Eilish
We’re happier than ever that Benjamin Mohapi of Salon Benjamin decided to create this Marilyn Monroe-inspired tousled bob for Billie Eilish. She looks gorgeous!
Naomi Osaka
Our jaws totally dropped when we saw this gravity-defying, sculptural hair that hairstylist Marty Harper dreamed up for Naomi Osaka. To create this look which melded Osaka’s Haitian and Japanese background, Harper used Dyson hair technology to build the sculpture shapes while layering the Natural Lab Tokyo conditioning and smoothing line for the high shine. And all of those fabulous red hair jewels? They came courtesy of Jennifer Behr.
Simu Liu
Simu Liu showed up on the carpet looking absolutely marvelous thanks to barber Mira Chai Hyde who used Andis tools to line up both his hair and beard.
Gigi Hadid
Gigi Hadid has us all wanting to dye our hair red when she debuted her fiery new hair color on the red carpet. The new look came courtesy of hairstylist Esther Langham who styled the model’s locks in a flirty high ponytail.
Kehlani
For her very first Met Gala, Kehlani channeled Farrah Fawcett with some feathered layers styled by hairstylist Kahh Spence. We love how this look pairs against her two-toned locks!
Which Met Gala hairstyle was your favorite? Share with us below!
