The Tamesis
“The body is at the center of the exhibition, and what fascinates me most about our bodies is not the appearance, but the fact that the atomic anatomy of our bodies is empty,” van Herpen told us Fashion. “99.9% of it is empty. When you think about it, it’s so surreal.” It was from these ideas that the designer and artist began creating Gu’s “Airo” dress: “In this design, I wanted to embody realism and surrealism at the same time.”
Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images
The gown is composed of 15,000 hand-formed, individually bonded iridescent glass bubbles. Hidden beneath its light and airy silhouette is a complex system of microprocessors, bubble nozzles, air pumps and a portable power system that timely releases pressurized gas and bubbles via algorithmically designed code. What does this mean for the 2026 Met Gala red carpet? As Gu walks on the carpet, two to five actual bubbles are released every second, creating a dreamy, whimsical walking scene.
“It spoke to me deeply through themes of movement and stillness: in the air when time slows down,” Gu said, “and the nature of reality: breaking the boundaries of what’s traditionally ‘possible,’ whether that’s creating a dress that ontologically inverts bubbles into ephemeral and formless entities, or redefining what a modern woman looks like in the traditionally male-dominated realm of action sports.”
With this subject in mind, van Herpen wanted to offer an alternative perspective on the human form: “I didn’t want to express our body in the way we usually perceive it – its beauty, its appearance. I wanted this dress to inspire people to look at the body from a different perspective, but also from a scientific perspective.”
Photo: Ryan McDaniels for Iris van Herpen
