The Story Behind Emma Chamberlain’s Hand-Painted Gown for The Met Gala 2026

“There is sort of this watercolor feel, and I love watercolor painting,” she says. “But then also there’s a creepy, sort of ominous undertone to the gown, like the way that it moves. And that is very much my taste in art.”

To begin the custom design process, Chamberlain and Ellner sent art references (including works by Van Gogh and Munch) to Freitas and the Mugler team, then had a three-hour conversation to talk through ideas. Ellner also selected archival Mugler looks as influences, including a butterfly dress from 1997. (When Freitas sent them the initial sketch, Chamberlain and Ellner had virtually no notes.)

The result is a stunning gown, designed by Freitas and hand-painted by artist Anna Deller-Yee, that literally turns Chamberlain’s body into a canvas. It’s a feeling she loves. “I really am someone who enjoys fashion the most when I get to be a complete blank canvas,” she says.

When it came to her glam for the evening, “We had some big, brave ideas of what I’d do,” she says, including dyeing her hair brown. But at the end of the day, she felt that the gown “was very much made for me as I am—I’m loving me looking like me in this gown.”