Heidi Klum broke down exactly how she turned into a real-life marble statue on the Met Gala 2026 red carpet.
While chatting with Vogue correspondents Ashley Graham and Cara Delevingne, Klum said her look — which included draped robes, facial prosthetics and a floral wreath — was inspired by Italian artist Raffaele Monti’s “Veiled Vestal” sculpture.
“I was like, I want to become her!’” Klum shared Monday night.
The model, 52, came up with an idea to match the event’s “Costume Art” dress code during a prior visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
“I went walking around in the Met and Raffaele Monti, he’s done most of the sculptures from the 1800s, so I looked and I was like, ‘Wow, this is so beautiful. The drape, and it’s all in marble, but how can you make that with fabric?’” she recalled.
Klum explained to Graham, 38, and Delevingne, 33, that while her outfit looks “hard,” it’s actually “soft,” as she let the pair touch her.
The “America’s Got Talent” judge revealed the headline-making costume was constructed of “foam and latex.”
“I can sit, I can eat, I can do everything,” she shared of the “illusion” look — but admitted she would need “help” going to the bathroom.
When asked how long it took to get ready, Klum joked that she was “in and out” of the makeup chair in “20 minutes.”
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Klum told her Instagram followers the outfit was created by prosthetic makeup designer Mike Marino, who “transformed fabric into sculpture, manipulating latex and spandex with extraordinary precision to mirror the stillness, delicacy and illusion of carved marble.”
She said her look, inspired by the “timeless beauty” of Monti’s sculpture, “blurs the line between fashion and fine art.”
“Every fold, every contour, every detail is intentional, capturing both strength and softness in a way that feels almost impossible,” Klum continued. “A one-of-a-kind design that doesn’t just dress the body, but elevates it into art itself.”
In a second post, Klum shared a video of herself dressed in normal clothes before she snapped her fingers and transformed into her statue costume.
At last year’s Met, which had a “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” theme, Klum went with a much more subdued look, wearing a strapless black Vetements dress.
Monday marked Klum’s first appearance on the Met Gala red carpet in 12 years, having last attended in 2013.
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