Zac Posen Created Gorgeous 3D-Printed Dresses for the 2019 Met Gala
"It was a moment I will remember forever."


If you didn't think the 2019 Met Gala (opens in new tab) could get any more over-the-top, think again: Zac Posen (who you may know as the designer of Princess Eugenie's wedding reception dress (opens in new tab)) just took the Met Gala's "Camp" theme to another level by dressing Jourdan Dunn, Nina Dobrev, Katie Holmes, Julia Garner, and Deepika Padukone in gowns with 3D-printed elements for the star-studded annual event at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
"It was a moment I will remember forever," Posen tells MarieClaire.com. "Getting to reveal each piece to each girl was something magical and the excitement on their faces was something that made all of the hard work and complexity worth it. I'm just grateful that I could share this historical and groundbreaking moment with people that I have cherished and admired for many years."
According to Posen's team, Jourdan Dunn's dress consists of 37 3D-printed petals. The printing and finish of the gown took over 1,100 hours, and was printed in a facility in North Carolina.
Meanwhile, Nina Dobrev is wearing a custom 3D-printed bustier that was finished by wet hand sanding and sprayed with a clear coat to give it its glass appearance. It took over 200 hours to make at a facility in Germany.
Katie Holmes is wearing a custom-made Posen gown made of 300 yards of hand-sewn colored tulle with 3D-printed palm leaves as a collar accessory. The printing of the palm leaves in North Carolina took over 56 hours.
Julia Garner is wearing a custom Zac Posen gown with a 3D-printed vine headpiece that includes leaf and berry embellishments. It's printed as a single piece with brass plating, and took over 22 hours to make in North Carolina.
Deepika Padukone's metallic pink lurex jacquard gown includes 408 pieces of 3D-printed embroidery attached to the outside of the gown. It took over 160 hours to complete and was printed in North Carolina as well.
This isn't the first time Posen has used 3D printing for his designs. He also created an Eartha 3D-printed convertible bag (opens in new tab), which unfortunately is no longer in stock. "3D-printing holds lots of potential for the future of fashion," says Posen. "It allows customization, precision, and scaling that cannot be created by hand. I think it will allow designers to really push the boundaries of fashion and create elements in their designs that couldn't have been achieved before."
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Rachel Epstein is an editor at Marie Claire, where she writes and edits culture, politics, and lifestyle stories ranging from op-eds to profiles to ambitious packages. She also manages the site’s virtual book club, #ReadWithMC. Offline, she’s likely watching a Heat game, finding a new coffee shop, or analyzing your cousin's birth chart—in no particular order.
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