Hailey Bieber’s Met Gala look this year drew directly from one of Yves Saint Laurent’s most iconic couture experiments.
The reference goes back to 1969, when Yves Saint Laurent collaborated with French sculptor Claude Lalanne for his autumn-winter haute couture collection. At the time, Saint Laurent was interested in pushing the boundaries of what a garment could be, and how closely fashion could interact with the body itself.
For this collection, Lalanne used an electroplating process to create metal casts taken from the torsos of two models. These sculpted breastplates were then incorporated into Saint Laurent’s designs and paired with soft chiffon and crepe dresses. The result was a striking contrast between rigid metal forms and light, fluid fabric.
The pieces stood out immediately for their sculptural quality. They were less traditional garments and more like wearable objects, existing somewhere between fashion and art. Although they were never produced commercially, they remain one of the most recognisable moments in Saint Laurent’s archive.
The collaboration did not end there. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, Yves Saint Laurent and Claude Lalanne continued to work together on multiple collections. Lalanne designed sculptural jewellery, metallic accessories, and elaborate headpieces that became recurring elements in the house’s couture language.
More than fifty years later, Anthony Vaccarello revisited this legacy for Hailey Bieber’s Met Gala look. Her custom Saint Laurent design featured a sculpted gold corset inspired by Lalanne’s original body moulds, bringing a defining moment in fashion history back into a contemporary context.
