When it comes to the Met Gala, Lauren Santo Domingo is a seasoned pro. The Moda Operandi founder attended her first Met all the way back in 2002, when she was an assistant at Vogue. “I was checking guests in, showing them to their seats, or shushing them as the programs began,” she remembers. Twenty years later, and having been a co-chair of the event for 2013’s “Punk: Chaos to Couture” exhibition, Santo Domingo still values the night’s illustrious history. “I have great respect for the museum, and for the Costume Institute and the work that they do,” she says. “I think I’m a bit of an old-timer.”
This year’s dress code of gilded glamour was perfect for Santo Domingo. “My personal style is grounded in the past, but I am always looking forward,” she adds. It makes sense, then, that when it came to conceiving her dress, she enlisted the help of Pieter Mulier at Alaïa, whose work at the house since joining last year has offered a masterclass in taking the codes of a heritage house and updating them for the present day. “I love what Pieter is doing at Alaïa,” says Santo Domingo. “Since the Gilded Age, American women have always looked to Paris for excitement and newness, and with this dress, Pieter is showing us that newness.” Serendipitously, Santo Domingo will be launching Mulier’s designs on Moda Operandi next season for the very first time. “I truly love connecting women with great fashion,” she says. “Right now, Pieter at Alaïa is, of course, one of the most sought-after, buzzy brands of the moment, so everyone is clamoring to wear it. Especially me!”
The dress itself, meanwhile, was inspired by an image of Azzedine Alaïa fitting a white corset on a model from 1992, with Santo Domingo sending inspiration images of corsets, bustiers, and lace—but “all modern in their way,” she adds. “I wanted to avoid traditional elements of draping, layering, and asymmetry evocative of the time. My inspirations were every Edith Wharton novel I have ever read, as well as Edith herself.” (Santo Domingo cites Wharton’s comedy of manners The Custom of the Country as one of her all-time favorite novels.)
Courtesy of Alaïa
Featuring a sleek halterneck, a signature Alaïa corseted bodice, and a dramatic ruffled knit skirt, the dress more than fulfilled Santo Domingo’s vision of a “modern American woman.” She notes that she tried to stay true to the period the exhibition is celebrating, while also providing a sleeker take on some of that era’s more extravagant sartorial flights of fancy. “I love a theme because it gives me a starting point. In other words, it helps narrow my focus,” she adds. “I try to respect the theme but never want to veer into a costume. I am also respectful of my position. I am not a reality star or a rapper, so I try to stay in my lane.”
As a Met Gala veteran, Santo Domingo now has her getting ready prep down to a fine art. She spent the afternoon at her Gramercy Park townhouse with her husband, Andrés, and her two children—who she notes, half-jokingly, are her harshest critics when it comes to style. “I try to keep the day as simple and as streamlined as possible, with little fuss,” she says. “It may be the Met Gala, but it’s also a Monday afternoon and I have things to do! If I have to take a day off, I prefer to take off Tuesday to rest versus all of Monday to get ready.” Still, it’s clear that for Santo Domingo, the greatest joy of all is being able to celebrate the Costume Institute, and all of the work they do to honor the role that clothing plays in preserving history. “It’s never lost on me that I’m in a room full of industry peers,” she says of her enduring love for the first Monday in May. “We have all worked hard to move forward in our own careers as well as the industry as a whole.”
Here, go behind the scenes with Santo Domingo as she gets ready for this year’s Met Gala.
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