Fashion icon Janelle Monáe dazzled in custom couture by Christian Siriano at the 2026 Met Gala on Monday (May 4).
The multi-hyphenate artist wore a floor-length gown that combined nature and technology, with wires and plants intertwined all over the piece. Monáe’s look was an entanglement of cables and greenery, with moving mechanical butterflies and dragonflies dotted along her body, including a butterfly perched atop her head.
In an Instagram post sharing a closer look at her couture, Monáe referenced her futuristic alter ego Cindi Mayweather, who has made appearances in her music since her 2007 EP Metropolis: The Chase Suite.
“And Cindi whispered from the future — remember what made you human,” Monáe wrote. In the caption, the singer also expressed her gratitude to the team that put her look together, sharing that the outfit encompassed live moss, succulents, a motherboard, ethernet cables, 230 electrical wires and 5,000 black crystals. “Thank you to the artisans and hands that built every fiber. It’s an honor to showcase your work.”
Monáe’s appearance at the Met Gala comes less than two weeks before her new film, Is God Is, is set to hit theaters. In the upcoming thriller, based on a play of the same name, Monáe plays the new wife of an abusive man who attempted to murder his previous wife and twin daughters in an intentional house fire. Monáe has an extensive acting resume, including roles in 2017’s Hidden Figures, 2018 Oscar best picture winner Moonlight and the second film in the Knives Out franchise, Knives Out: Glass Onion.
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