For ballerina Misty Copeland—who recently underwent hip surgery after retiring from American Ballet Theatre—this year’s Met Gala theme held special significance. The “Costume Art” exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art explores “the centrality of the dressed body,” pairing garments with paintings, sculptures, and objects spanning 5,000 years of art. No other art form, however, is more closely linked to the human body, than ballet—a fact not lost on Copeland.
“The idea of ‘bodies’ feels really personal to me right now. Coming out of surgery, I’ve been thinking a lot about what the body carries, strength, history, resilience,” she says. “It’s also incredible to think about how the human body has always been such a central source of inspiration in art and fashion, and for me that’s deeply connected to movement and dance. As a dancer, my body has always been my instrument, but also something I’ve had to learn to listen to more deeply over time.”
For her Met Gala look, Copeland wanted something that honored all of that—”something that felt strong but soft, and still very much like me. And something that, to me, feels like a beautiful part of a lineage of Black ballerinas throughout history,” she explains. “Beauty wise, I kept it clean and luminous. I always want to still look like myself, just elevated.”
Mali Boykin
It was Copeland’s tan co-ord that set the tone for makeup artist Mali Boykin. “The look immediately brought me back to this idea of brown as richness, warmth, and presence and I wanted the makeup to carry that same energy through the skin,” she says. “Bronzed skin became such an important part of the vision because it allowed me to create dimension while still honoring softness. It was less about matching the outfit and more about extending its feeling.”
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