The Tamesis
Nishimura and six other models gathered at Madonna’s Manhattan home on Saturday to prepare for the Met, where they met the singer for the first time. “She was absolutely lovely. She was a consummate professional and a true diva in a positive sense,” she said. “I think we all admired her gravitas and professionalism.”
Once the pop star donned a cape and Philip Treacy hat (the milliner even tried it on via FaceTime), they got to work. “We only rehearsed about four times, and we just assigned positions,” Nishimura said.
On Monday, the band returned to Madonna’s home and got ready in her rehearsal room. “We have all ohING and Ahhhshe said. A Sprinter van then took them to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where they arrived among Bad Bunny, Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner.
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When they arrived, there was “a long line of celebrities, designers and people waiting to get on the steps,” Nishimura said, which also included Marc Jacobs and Alexa Chung. But they crossed the finish line with ease. “Celebrity is kind of like Mount Olympus,” Nishimura said. “Madonna is still the queen there and we’re just her fairies.”
The singer had her own dance moves during the five-minute performance, which was set to a custom soundtrack. “It was fun and I wasn’t nervous at all,” she said. “This moment isn’t really about us. It’s about us as a collective, which makes it a little less scary.”
So what do people do after they escort Madonna up the steps of the Met Gala? “We have to take the cloak back to the steps,” she said. What happened next might even have brought gods to earth: “In the end, Beyoncé turned the corner,” says Nishimura. “The cameraman started screaming at us, ‘Get off the camera, you ruined the shot!'”
