Skiers On The Red Carpet: Eileen Gu, Lindsey Vonn Shine at Met Gala
Few skiers have transcended the world of skiing so far as to make red carpet appearances at A-list events, and even fewer do so as comfortably as Eileen Gu.
Of course, Gu is no stranger to the world of high fashion, having walked runway shows and appeared on the cover of publications like Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. Following a season of earning multiple Olympic medals, two wins plus the overall World Championship title at the Snow League, and a TIME Magazine cover, it was no surprise to see Gu appear on the Met Gala red carpet yesterday.
For those unfamiliar, the Met Gala is the Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual fundraiser for their costume institute. Each year, a theme is chosen, and those invited are expected to dress accordingly. Some of the most iconic moments in fashion and pop culture have happened at the Met Gala in years past and this year was no exception with the "Costume Art" theme and "Fashion is Art" dress code.
As always, Gu rose to the occasion, arriving at the Met wearing a dress by designer Iris Van Herpen, in collaboration with artist A.A. Murakami. The dress, dubbed the "Airo Dress," was made to represent the human body's atomic structure, which is composed of 99.9% empty space.
The dress is made from 15,000 hand-made iridescent glass bubbles, bonded together with UV light. The garment also had hidden microprocessors that coordinated the release of pressured gas to create actual bubbles, which were sequenced through a digital interface to operate autonomously. See below.
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A version of Gu's dress was featured in van Herpen's Sculpting the Senses exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum, which shows 19 years of the designer's process in creating pieces that explore the body and anatomical systems as well as the physics of motion, perception, and sound. With this in mind, there's no better person to wear a piece like this than Gu.
Gu wasn't the only skier to walk the Met Gala's red carpet this year. Following her crash at the Milan Cortina Olympics, Lindsey Vonn has been recovering from a series of leg surgeries.
Vonn posted to Instagram prior to the Gala, showing herself walking for the first time since her accident with the help of a custom Thom Browne cane. Vonn wore a Thom Browne dress on the carpet as well.
Vonn and Gu were the only two skiers to attend the Gala, in case anyone needed a reminder that everyone watches women's sports.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Other athletes such as figure skater Alysa Liu and tennis player Naomi Osaka also appeared at the Gala. Venus Williams also acted as the event co-chair alongside Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, and Anna Wintour.

