Jenna Ortega Puts a Wednesday-Worthy Twist on the Met Gala 2023 Theme

[gentle music]

Jenna, she does have a real sense of her own style.

The dress is definitely not wearing her.

She's definitely wearing the dress.

[air whooshing]

My name is Thom Browne.

Here in the studio, I am going to show you

what I have designed for Jenna Ortega,

and we're getting ready for the Met on Monday.

[light electronic music]

The theme is Karl Lagerfeld,

celebrating his 65-year career as a designer.

Karl, I think, has directly or indirectly inspired

most of us.

When I was thinking of the outfit for Jenna,

one of the biggest inspirations for me

was Karl's work at Chanel.

You think of black and white, you think of tweed,

you think of chain and the pearls

and his specific references.

And this one specifically was an 18th century pannier.

So I hope that people see, you know,

the perfect marriage of what I do

but also to what Karl did at Chanel.

[machine clicking]

[light electronic music]

The process began a couple months ago.

Hearing that Jenna was going to be coming with me

to the night was exciting for me

because I know that, you know, she has actually worn

my clothing in the past and she appreciates tailoring.

So it was a very authentic, natural fit.

First of all, it starts with just an idea in my head.

Then, it is a sketch that I shared with Jenna

and then, you know, more specific sketch,

and that's what you ultimately see.

For this, because of the reference of the 18th century,

it does play with shape and proportion.

You do see the pannier of the 18th century reference,

and then you also see the oversized,

more conceptualized version of the overcoat

that is draped over the pannier.

There's a heavy tweed influence,

which is, I think, playing very much in homage

to Karl's work at Chanel.

You know, from really developing the fabric,

to developing what you'll actually see

and finishing everything on Monday,

it took us a good six weeks.

Creating something like this,

it's, of course, it's a village.

There's a lotta people right now that will be embroidering

and finalizing just the embroidery on the looks.

[dog barking] What you're gonna see here

is more of the detail work

that will go into finalizing Jenna's dress.

That's Hecky, Hector.

He runs the studio.

This is one of the final swatches.

And then the details with the gold and the pearls.

This is one of the embroidery that will go

on the 18th century referenced pannier.

This is the pannier here.

When working with somebody like Jenna,

I always feel like there has to be a real,

you know, some type of authentic relationship

between the two of us.

And Jenna's very true to herself,

and she's also very good at what she does.

And I think that is something that is inspiring to me.

I think Jenna's coming in tomorrow or the next day,

and this will be her third fitting.

[machine clicking]

[plastic crinkling]

[gentle music]

[camera clicking]

[gentle music continues]

I still think it looks so cool.

I think it reads really well,

especially when you can see the cuff right there.

Well the one thing, it feels so you.

Very. Yeah.

Yeah. It feels very true

to your whole sensibility,

and I think it looks, it looks great.

[Jenna] And also the tweed is very Karl.

Well I was saying, it was very easy to do,

you know, looks for this Met

because what he did at Chanel was so strong

and so ingrained in people's minds.

And I think when you think of Karl,

I think of Chanel, and you know,

there's so many codes to play with.

Sitting at dinner might be a little tough.

[Thom laughing] No one sits anyway.

[laughing] Yeah.

[Jenna] It's not worth it.

It looks so good.

Looks really good. I understand.

It looks really good. It just looks

perfect for you.

It's also surprisingly comfortable. [laughing]

I feel very good.

See you tomorrow.

See you. Thank you.

Thank you so much. You look so good.

I'm overwhelmed by how happy I am,

Great. So thank you.

[camera clicking]

[light music]

I'm so excited to attend the Met with Thom Browne,

just because I have looked up to him creatively

and as a designer for a very long time,

and I've been such a major fan of his work

that I think it's kind of a collaboration I always made up

in my head.

So the fact that it's actually panning out

and we got to work on a design together

and come up with something really beautiful,

yeah, I can't believe it.

[light music continues]

I think the special little piece about this outfit

is probably the chain.

I remember we weren't sure whether or not we wanted

to wear it, but I think that the white shirt

really brought it out.

The design and spacing is specific to something

that Karl did in his career,

so it's perfect homage to him, I think.

Thank you so much for being involved in this process

and paying attention and caring.

I really, really appreciate it.

Again, I feel so grateful and lucky.

It's an honor working with Thom, and yeah,

hope you enjoy the rest of the night.

[light music continues]

[camera clicking]

[crowd buzzing]

[Crowd] Jenna.

[Speaker] How are you doing?

[light music continues]