Doja Cat Turned Heads With Fake Tears at the 2024 Met Gala

The "sad girl aesthetic" is alive and well.

Doja cat wears fake tears to the 2024 Met Gala
(Image credit: Getty Images)

We can always count on Doja Cat for an eye-catching look. The “Kiss Me More” singer has worn everything from fake tattoos to full-body crystals on the red carpet, and now she's stunning onlookers with fake tears at the Met Gala.

While I'm not certain what Doja's tear streaks have to do with this year's "The Garden of Time" theme, the look taps into today's zeitgeist, tapping into the "sad girl" trends on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.

Doja cat wears fake tears to the 2024 Met Gala

Doja Cat looks sad, fierce, and soaking wet on the red carpet.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Doja cat wears fake tears to the 2024 Met Gala

Doja Cat arrives on the red carpet in a white towel.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

In proudly bearing her tear streaks, crafted by makeup artist Pat McGrath, Doja uses beauty as a means of performance art. She further channeled the messy, sad girl aesthetic by showing up to the red carpet in a towel, only to change into a soaking wet T-shirt gown.

Along with her tear streaks, Doja wore minimal makeup, opting for smooth, satiny skin, mauve lips, and, of course, heavily lined eyes. She also had what appeared to be pointed cat ears drawn above her actual ears, an homage to her stage name.

Love it or hate it, Doja Cat never fails to grab the attention of fans with her daring, one-of-a-kind looks. And in creating unexpected, zeitgeist-driven styles, she elevates beauty and fashion into full-on performance.

Doja cat wears fake tears to the 2024 Met Gala

Doja's look channeled both seduction and melancholy, tapping into the romanticism of the beautiful sad girl (see: Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Emma Cline's The Guest, and Jeffrey Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides).

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Doja cat wears fake tears to the 2024 Met Gala

Doja Cat looks like she's just stepped out of the shower.

(Image credit: Getty Images)
Gabrielle Ulubay
Beauty Writer

Gabrielle Ulubay is a Beauty Writer at Marie Claire. She has also written about sexual wellness, politics, culture, and fashion at Marie Claire and at publications including The New York Times, HuffPost Personal, Bustle, Alma, Muskrat Magazine, O'Bheal, and elsewhere. Her personal essay in The New York Times' Modern Love column kickstarted her professional writing career in 2018, and that piece has since been printed in the 2019 revised edition of the Modern Love book. Having studied history, international relations, and film, she has made films on politics and gender equity in addition to writing about cinema for Film Ireland, University College Cork, and on her personal blog, gabrielleulubay.medium.com. Before working with Marie Claire, Gabrielle worked in local government, higher education, and sales, and has resided in four countries and counting. She has worked extensively in the e-commerce and sales spaces since 2020, and spent two years at Drizly, where she developed an expertise in finding the best, highest quality goods and experiences money can buy.

Deeply political, she believes that skincare, haircare, and sexual wellness are central tenets to one's overall health and fights for them to be taken seriously, especially for people of color. She also loves studying makeup as a means of artistic expression, drawing on her experience as an artist in her analysis of beauty trends. She's based in New York City, where she can be found watching movies or running her art business when she isn't writing. Find her on Twitter at @GabrielleUlubay or on Instagram at @gabrielle.ulubay, or follow her art at @suburban.graffiti.art