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When considering the Met Gala 2024 theme, Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, Lily James and Erdem Moralıoğlu looked to Maria Callas for inspiration. The appliqué roses showering her pink crushed satin gown evoked those the Greek opera singer received following her performances. But, while Callas was synonymous with graphic eyeliner and a strong brow, James’s glam team—hairstylist Halley Brisker and makeup artist Valeria Ferreira—went for a cleaner, softer look for the Met’s green carpet. Think English rose at sunrise.
“When it came to Lily’s hair, we wanted to strip it back to a super clean silhouette, but with a modern-retro twist,” Brisker tells Vogue. “We created a high-shine, cuffed chignon, which felt more like an uptown New York look, as opposed to Callas’s simpler up-dos.” Having planned a totally different look in the lead-up to the event, as is often the case, the team switched it up for something more polished at the last minute.
Brisker’s MO is always luxurious, beautiful hair—whatever the style. “Even if we’re working with organic textures, the hair needs to look expensive,” he says. “I like to find ways to put hair together in the best way possible, elevating the look and making it aspirational, which is why I always start with Olaplex.” He prescribed James the brand’s No.4 Bond Maintenance Shampoo and No.5 Conditioner (which help strengthen the hair) to use the days before the event.
On the night? “I always use the brand’s Bond Smoother No.6 as a base—it’s part styling cream, part treatment, and you can leave it in. I apply to damp hair then blow dry it in,” he explains. “And because it’s the Met, I need strong hold, so I used the Volumising Blow Dry Mist on top of that—they work seamlessly together.” He then smoothed the hair using the brand’s No.7 Bonding Oil to enhance shine and hair color, then finished with Redken’s Quick Dry Finish hairspray. The resulting chignon is effortlessly elegant and, as is true to Brisker’s form, still ridiculously cool. Bookmark this one.
Befitting of the Met Gala theme, James’s makeup drew upon the natural world. “Lily is a flower, a pale pink and black anemone, softly touched by the evening dew—that soft, almost undetectable humidity that gives shine to a petal but still holds their velvety appearance,” explains Ferreira. “Skin and nature meet.” Showcasing velvety, slightly dewy and totally flawless skin, James looked the epitome of natural.
Ferreira started with a beauty editor essential: SPF, courtesy of Supergoop Glow Screen (in shade Sunrise) is an iridescent hydrating lotion with an SPF 40, which lends instant luminosity to the skin and still photographs well.
Tucking a touch of black eyeliner under James’s upper waterline to add definition—“I used Louboutin’s Black Kohl pencil which is always sold out—it doesn’t budge!” – Ferreira created a “soft, defocused, muted rose lip” using the brand’s Glow Lip Colour in Peach Cabaret. And voila, James’s au naturel look was complete.