“Baz dreamt up an enchanted forest,” says Vogue Contributing Fashion Editor Max Ortega of working with director Baz Luhrmann on the much-anticipated musical performance at last night’s 2024 Met Gala. For Luhrman’s take on this spring’s “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” exhibition, Ariana Grande and her Wicked costar Cynthia Erivo arrived in the Great Hall as the surprise performers haring the stage were 30 dancers and a 40-person choir (not to mention an entire orchestra), all decked out in glittering beauty.
It required a team of pros, as usual. “Working with Michael Arden and the choreographers Creelo, we developed characters,” says Ortega of filling the stage with a “gold-soaked Sleepy Orchestra, pre-raphaelite Choir, horny male satyrs and glitter-dusted Nymphettes.” He credits Bumble & Bumble Global Artistic Ambassador Evanie Frausto and makeup artist Raisa Flowers for bringing the moment to life. “For the first time the performance began the moment guests walked in,” says Ortega of a trio of acts that started in the museum’s Great Hall, moved into the call to dinner during cocktails, and “culminated in the awakening of our Sleeping Beauty, Ariana.” Backstage, Frausto worked with his team to deliver pure gold—literally.
“We have some real gold leaf in the hair, which is super fun,” says Frausto of painting Bumble and Bumble’s BB.Gel onto performer’s natural hair to provide grip for the tricky material. “Gold leaf is so hard to work with, it’s really flimsy, and any little breeze of wind just makes it fly away and flake,” he explains. “So it’s really about securing that down for us.” For dancers, he focused on creating a fantasy of natural texture. “It’s like these fairies have been living in the woods their whole lives, and they’re just kind of cool and undone,” he explains. “We’re just leaning into more natural, very soft, clean, and pure textures. For people with a beautiful Afro texture, we’re stretching it and giving this nice, airy look.”