How Chloe Fineman Prepared to Co-Host the Met Gala Livestream

You worked with designer Jackson Wiederhoeft on your look for this year’s Met Gala. What has the design process been like? 

It’s been a dream. I discovered Jackson’s work about a year and a half ago. I saw his first runway show last September, and I burst into tears watching it. It was emotional! I just think he’s brilliant, and I was so excited to get to work with him on his first Met Gala look. It’s always amazing when you get to support emerging designers, which is how I felt about getting to wear Miss Sohee last year. But yeah, we are both so excited. When we learned we get to work together on this, there was a lot of, “This is major! This is major!” 

Were there any specific Karl Lagerfeld pieces you referenced for the design? 

I love Karl’s use of flowers, roses, black and pink, and lace, so we wanted to honor that with this dress. I also recently watched the Karl Lagerfeld episode of the show, “7 Days Out.” I was inspired by the way they were individually sewing the beads within the petals of the flowers.

We’ve been really thorough with it. For example, we’ve tested swatches to find the perfect pink for my skintone. We picked out the exact roses that go around the neck of the dress and tested whether or not to use feathers. Rose is my middle name, that’s really corny, but I wanted to bring that in with the roses. As I’m talking to you, we’ve just fit the bones of the dress but I haven’t seen it pink or with the flowers, so I think the next two fittings are going to involve some game-time tweaks. 

Wow, it’s amazing how fast the design process happens. 

Yes. The first fitting was hilarious. It was Ana de Armas’ week on SNL. We had just finished our table read that Wednesday, and Jackson came to do a fitting at 30 Rock in the SNL costume department. I was like, “I hope they pick the American Girl Doll sketch!” I was so distracted. And then he squeezed me into a corset and I couldn’t breathe. 

Right, we need you to be able to breathe. Does being a host impact the design decisions you’re making? 

Definitely. There are things we’ve considered, like, not having an overwhelming neckline or long train. I’ve been doing glove fittings, which I’ve never done before. We wanted to make them so that there’s a little nail showing. The corseting is why I fell in love with him, but it can’t be too tight, because, you know, I don’t want to fall over. And then we’re also doing an after-party dress, with a little rose on it as an ode to Chanel. 

What would kid-you say to today-you, as you get ready to host the The Met Gala? 

Oh, I would be absolutely beside myself. Kid me was well beyond her years. I briefly changed my name when I was little to Chloet, because it sounds like Choupette, Karl’s cat. I think I used to say something like, “Fashion before death!” as a kid, like if wearing a jacket was going to ruin my outfit or something.