Among the many bejewelled looks to wend their way up the Metropolitan Museum of Art's iconic front steps for the 2023 Met Gala, one stood out from the crowd.
Ghanaian-British screenwriter and actress, and one of this year's Met Gala co-chairs, Michaela Coel wowed onlookers as she arrived to the event in a sheer, brown-hued sheath dress, embellished liberally with pearls, as well as silver, champagne and gold coloured gem stones, fixed in constellations about her body.
The dress was a custom design by Schiaparelli Couture, styled and collaborated on by ELLE UK's own Associate Fashion Editor Georgia Medley, and is a continuation of her well-established relationship with the fashion house.
'We can see the homages to Karl here in the chain and in the loops and the pearls,' the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever star and former ELLE cover-girl told the Hollywood Reporter on the night. 'It’s a collaboration between my stylist Georgia [Medley] and [Schiaparelli designer] Daniel [Roseberry].
'I’m just like a total tourist in this industry. I’m here to serve and I’m here to honour their creative vision. I wanted to have a little gold, and he created like this second skin. There are 130,000 crystals, 26,000 mixed stones, and over 3,800 hours of work to make this dress,' she concluded.
Sustainability was of upmost importance to Coel on the night. Before the Gala she enlisted the help of fellow Ghanian, jewellery artist Emefa Cole, to create a headpiece made of Single Mine Origin (SMO) gold, responsibly sourced from West Africa. The piece's design was based on a coral branch and created using small nuggets of SMO Gold. Cole also designed and created Coel's earrings and cocktail rings which were hand textured to look like 'silky liquid gold', according to a press release. The pieces form part of Cole's Worth Their Weight collection, and have their own QR code to provide more detail about the jewellery's 'journey', from mine to Met.
![met gala michaela coel](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/gettyimages-1486939622-6450fb00de0e3.jpg?resize=980:* "The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" - Arrivals")
The actor said of the designs: 'There is a great synergy between Daniel Roseberry and Emefa Cole’s designs, I feel timeless in her work. here is no greater feeling to know that your choices can impact women in Africa like we’ve done with this collaboration.'
Coel is still a relative newcomer for the Met Gala night, with her Met Gala debut only a few years ago in 2021, at which she wore an incredible blue, sequinned catsuit by Balenciaga.
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