Janelle Monae Favors Gaurav Gupta for Met Gala 2026 After Party

Janelle Monáe forewent the Christian Siriano gown worn on the 2026 Met Gala red carpet for a sleek and stylish Gaurav Gupta design at the Boom after party in New York City on Monday night.

The artist styled a look from the eponymous designer’s spring 2025 couture collection. The design put a contemporary spin on the little black dress, with Monáe wearing a black mini look with long sleeves and pointed shoulders for angular accentuation.

On the bodice of the dress, a cast metal breast plate created sartorial friction and added contrast, emphasizing the modern variation of the design. Monáe added a pair of pointed-toe heels to the look and accessorized with dazzling nail designs and a pair of black sunglasses.

Gaurav Gupta’s spring 2025 couture collection made its runway debut as part of Paris Couture Week in January 2025. Inspired by the designer and his life partner, poet and performer Navkirat Sodhi’s, healing journey following a fire that left Sodhi with 55 percent burns on her body.

“Gupta expanded on his experimentation with cast metal, creating breastplates and half masks evoking both alienation and protection, while signature jewelry pieces evoked the chakras. His dramatic sculpted and looped dresses, which have made him a red-carpet favorite, created voluminous swirls around the models’ bodies,” Alex Wynne wrote in WWD’s review of the collection.

“The color palette was heavily informed by their experience, with a deep ochre satin twisted to create structured bodices evoking rising flames or a fluid jersey in the same shade draped over a pair of models in an interlinked dress representing the twin flame experience.”

Ahead of the Boom after party, Monáe attended the 2026 Met Gala at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. The artist wore a floor-length gown constructed from real electrical cables and wiring, interwoven with moss, succulents and circuit board fragments, with butterfly motifs scattered throughout, courtesy of Christian Siriano. Monáe was styled by Alexandra Mandelkorn.