Erdem Moralıoğlu is that rare Met Gala guest who looks forward to the private view of the fashion exhibit even more than the ball itself. “It’s like being in an exhibition, but also Madame Tussauds,” the beloved London designer and self-professed history nerd says of taking in Andrew Bolton’s annual curation alongside some of the biggest stars on the planet.

When Erdem got wind of the 2026 Met Gala theme—“Costume Art”–his brain went immediately to John Singer Sargent’s seminal work, Portrait of Madame X, which was deemed so outrageous when the artist unveiled it in 1884 that he was forced to rework his depiction of socialite Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, planting her jeweled dress straps firmly back on her shoulders, rather than slipping–suggestively–down. Erdem’s second thought: Claire Foy, an actor and close friend, and a woman he knew could do his spin on Madame X style justice.

“In a way, it pre-dates the idea of the exposure of the body and the overt sexuality in a dress,” Erdem muses of the disruptive art piece, which Sargent ended up selling to the Met in 1916. “I loved the idea of interpreting that original dress in draped crush satin, paired with a Barbour jacket.” Yes, you read that correctly. A Barbour jacket at the Met Gala!

Two, in fact. Erdem’s first reimagining of the quintessential British outerwear staple (look one from the spring 2025 collection, inspired by Deborah “Debo” Cavendish) is part of the Costume Art display. “It felt wonderful to connect the dots,” he says of walking through the exhibit with a Barbour-clad Foy.

Of course, this is no ordinary waxed jacket. When we speak, five members of Erdem’s team have just come up for air after days spent embroidering crystals onto the opera-style coat designed to be worn shrugged over the shoulders. “It’s mixing utility and function with an element of couture,” Erdem continues, noting the painstaking detail stitched onto the rubberized cotton and quilted padded exterior. “It’s the opposite of its original intention.”

For her part, Foy—who first called upon Erdem to outfit her for an intimate screening of The Crown after the first season aired in 2016, and went on to wear his work to the 2017 Golden Globes (she won)—was happy to embody the tension between the cinched gown and that delightfully louche spin on a classic overlay. “I knew I would love it before he showed me the sketch—it felt both bold and classic,” enthuses Foy, who recalls feeling “like a deer in headlights” at her first Met Gala. “My aim the second time around is to soak up as much of it as possible. At the finish line, Erdem and I will be able to have a martini and a burger and a full debrief!”

“I always have fun,” adds Erdem, who famously danced the night away to Madonna with his 2018 plus one, Kristin Scott Thomas, and her pint of wine, and remembers marveling at the number of dress train “managers” who magically appeared on the red carpet when he took Glenn Close, in a 65-foot opera coat, as his 2023 date. “There’s always something that happens,” he says, about to board his flight to JFK to enter the fray. “I’ve been too early for the red carpet, too late for the red carpet...” The 2026 Met Gala saw Erdem and Claire arrive right on cue.

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