Charli XCX Brings Gothic Glamour—and a Dramatic Feathered Headpiece—to the 2025 Met Gala

For Gallici’s part, having the opportunity to dress one of the night’s most-watched guests—and to mark his Met Gala red carpet debut—meant he knew he had to get the look exactly right. “Chris and Charli were clear from the beginning: no traditional tailoring, no clichés,” says Gallici, noting that the conversation began after Charli wore a custom Ann Demuelemeester look to take home three awards at the Grammys earlier this year. Adds Horan, “Over the past year we’ve gotten a chance to work with the Ann team closely on multiple looks and it’s made us realize how natural of a fit it is to Charli. Without a ton of briefing, Stefano came up with a sketch that we loved immediately.”

Gallici was also interested in making sure the look felt unexpected. “The idea was to subvert the expected—to respond to this year’s ‘tailoring’ theme not with obedience, but with instinct,” he says. “We spoke about distortion, asymmetry, and the witch-like textures that Charli often returns to—elements that also live deep in the DNA of Ann Demeulemeester. This was about constructing something radical that still felt deeply personal to her.”

The end result is a fitted blazer, an artfully tailored open-back micro waistcoat and shorts, a sheer silk chiffon train tipped with feathers, thigh-high stretch leather cuissardes, and feathered ear cuffs to heighten the drama—all in Charli’s (and Ann Demuelemeester’s) favored shade of jet black. “At our first fitting, we wanted to make sure all of the lines were cut super sharp,” says Charli, noting that she wanted the jacket to feel extreme and defined so that the train, with all its movement and ruffles, felt like a “beautiful, almost liquid contrast.” For Horan, it was an opportunity to take Charli’s well-defined Brat sartorial aesthetic and elevate it. “We wanted to strike the balance between something that feels inherently Charli when you first see it and showcases her in an element of tailoring, something she doesn’t do very often,” says Horan. “I think it’s a good mix of honoring the theme and staying true to herself.”

“It’s feminine, but it’s also gothic,” adds Charli. “Sort of Poe in a way, sumptuous and kind of rockstar… which is me I guess.” And while the Brat era may be coming to a close (or is it?) the spirit of the album lives on. “I think a big part of Brat is just being yourself—no matter what others say or think, it’s just about leaning into you,” Charli adds. ‘And I feel like that’s what we did with this look.”