Much like a first love, everyone remembers their first Met Gala. For Daisy Edgar-Jones, three things stood out during her first Met appearance in 2022: how she felt (“I was excited to take it all in”), Sarah Jessica Parker’s veiled fascinator by famed milliner Phillip Treacy (“[It was] the wildest and coolest thing”), and not timing her arrival with a trusted friend so they could walk in together.
“I remember I arrived at the carpet really early and wanted to meet my friend there, but he was running late,” Edgar-Jones laughs as she tells me the story over Zoom the day before the First Monday in May. “So I ended up sort of standing at the entrance like I was welcoming people into the Met.”
Today, the Twisters star is making her third appearance at the 2026 Met Gala—a professional, practically!—and her excitement for fashion’s biggest night is still palpable. Edgar-Jones and her stylist, Dani Michelle, spent the months sending references to each other of corsets and bodices, trying to figure out exactly how to honor a woman’s body in a way that felt artistic and elevated. McQueen, designed by Seán McGirr, felt like the natural choice to do all of those things.
“They’re so iconic,” Edgar-Jones says of the storied fashion house. “They’re really good with that tension between beauty and destruction. This design explores [the idea that] structure and that fragility can coexist.” Made of ivory silk georgette and floral heritage lace, the actor’s custom-made McQueen fall/winter 2026 sculpted dress is adorned with intricate three-dimensional Lyon lace appliqué and a stunning shredded tulle Banshee embroidery. Edgar-Jones describes it as “rough” and “undone” ripped fabric that perfectly sums up the theme. “It just felt like it really honored this idea of costume, art, and fashion,” she says. To finish out the look, she wears jewels from Boucheron—the Laurel Earrings, the Silhouette bracelet, and the Silhouette brooch to be exact—as the key jewelry pieces.
Estée Lauder
When it came to beauty to match the vibe, only her longtime glam team of Jo Baker and Bryce Scarlett—along with a newer addition of Estée Lauder products, where Edgar-Jones is a spokesperson—would do. “We wanted to keep an air of London ‘cool girl next door’ who threw on a dress and didn’t really think about her makeup,” Baker tells Vogue. “Instead of being overly polished or overly precise, we went for classic and cool.”
Baker uses yet-to-be-released Estée Lauder’s new Essential Eyeshadow Stick in Sugar Plum (a soft taupe shade coming in June) for hollowed-out, moody eyes. To get that “raw” and “girl next door” feel for the skin, she uses the ORA Method LED Guasha to sculpt the cheeks and a combo of the Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess 01 Bronzing Power and the Futurist BlushMaker Dewy Cheek Tints in shades Stolen Glance and Skinny Dip for that natural-looking flush.
