When Mona Patel stepped onto the Met Gala carpet in 2024 in a custom Iris van Herpen—a lotus-inspired nude sculpted gown with kinetic petals fluttering at her arms like they had a mind of their own—the internet took notice, a lot of it. Overnight, Patel went from a ‘mystery guest’ to one of the Gala’s best-dressed attendees.
This year, for Fashion Is Art, she had to look no further than her own name for inspiration. “My mother was fascinated with the Mona Lisa, but my father wasn’t as much of a fan, so they kept it just Mona,” she says. “When she found out she was having a second child, her dreams came true. She named my sister Lisa.” Naturally, being named after one of the most famous works of art leads to a certain level of curiosity about the artist. “Da Vinci has inspired me since I was a child, once I understood who he was and what my name stood for,” shares Patel. “He is one of the greats, a true Renaissance genius.”
Stepan Filenko
So, where do you start building a look around a legacy like that? At the heart of the Renaissance, obviously. Or, at any rate, close to it. Patel headed to Milan’s Biblioteca Ambrosiana—one of the oldest public libraries in Europe and home to a vast collection of the artist and inventor’s original codices. “I felt so privileged to access them and to actually hold and see works that are over 500 years old. It’s surreal.”
The look that followed, aptly named ‘Renaissance Genius’, was crafted by Dolce and Gabbana for the brand’s first Met appearance in six years. The outer layer, ‘Veil of Genius’, is a sepia-toned silk gazar cape that reads like a floating manuscript complete with the Vitruvian Man, scribbled notes, portrait studies, and, of course, a knowing smile with a pair of eyes that seem to follow you around the room. Underneath, a mermaid-tailed ivory gown, dubbed ‘Anatomy of Genius, ’ doubles down on the scientific detailing with hand-pleated chiffon designed to mirror the body’s own structure with muscle and fascia. Gold hardware, jewelled arm connectors and a braided spine deepen the anatomical effect.
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