Madelyn Cline on the Joyful Chaos of Her First Met Gala (2024)

Last night, Madelyn Cline had attended her first Met Gala. The actress—who shot to fame two years ago for starring as Sarah Cameron on Netflix's Outer Banks—is also the same age as me: 25. I tell her I'd imagine that this milestone feels big, especially while still being so young. A Met Gala invite is considered a symbolic induction to the A-list after all, a moment that means you've made it. Cline affirms that this whole experience really has felt "so legit."

Preparing the look was undoubtedly a surreal "pinch-me" moment, the actress tells BAZAAR ahead of her debut on the Met steps. Cline's custom design came courtesy of Stella McCartney, who was a "dream" to get to work with. And the team-up was extremely collaborative: there were sketches involved, alongside multiple fittings and back-and-forths surrounding the hues and material for the big night. "Do we like this color, do we like metallic, do we want to stay black-and-white?" Cline recalls of the process.

The evening's ensemble—which honored the late fashion visionary Karl Lagerfeld—was a black velvet strapless gown that featured a chained bodice and metallic accents, paired with a slick updo and Boucheron pendant earrings. Like many others last night, her look's ode to Lagerfeld centered around the familiarity of his signature suit. "Karl was always in a fabulous suit, right?" the actress points out. But Cline also liked the idea of a dress that extenuated her figure, and she was confident that McCartney would strike the perfect balance with the style.

McCartney is known for her power suits—those which balance structured and fitted components to create silhouettes that are equal-parts flattering and bold. "Stella's suits are just so sexy, and so iconic," Cline says. "They're perfectly masculine and feminine." She adds of the intention, "We loved the dress, but we also loved the structure behind Stella's suit. We loved the shoulder pads. We loved how she really accentuates the waist. It's like really, really feminine, but also incredibly strong."

Cline's stylist, Mimi Cuttrell, sought to keep the spotlight on those details in the dress. "I admire how Stella McCartney reinterprets Karl’s signature love of shimmering metallics, embroidery, embellishments and texture," she says. "I wanted to keep Maddie’s accessories minimal and chic so as to not overpower the beauty of the craftsmanship that went into making this gown."

"I think it is the perfect balance of Stella’s core aesthetic and honoring Karl's legacy while also feeling innately true to Maddie herself," Cuttrell adds, "which makes this look so special."

The Met Gala, of course, is by no means a casual event. Helped along by themes like 2019’s “Camp” and the previous year's “Heavenly Bodies,” it is famously home to extravagant and divisive looks—and for many, also an opportunity to escape in styles apart from what is normally worn. With her own look, Cline wasn't necessarily looking to stray too far from herself. "For me, comfort is number one," she says. "And then number two: it's when you look in the mirror and feel good." She adds that everything else is icing on the cake. "I know I'm gonna be nervous, so being in something that makes me feel confident is going to be especially comforting."

It's hard to perfectly anticipate all the emotions that can (and will) arise come Met Gala Monday. Prior to this week, everything had existed only as concepts: in sketches, photos, and conversations. Once everything began to materialize, the gravity also set in. The night before, a rainy evening in New York, she had been sitting by a fireplace at the Lowell Hotel, feeling good about how the fitting went, and zen with her surrounding environment about everything ahead of her the next day. "I had no care in the world. I had no nerves," she says from her glam chair. "And then today, I woke up and it just hit." She has her pea soup, though, and a bottle of Dom Pérignon champagne ready to pop with Stella and the team.

Of course, there are the after-parties too, which Cline would be attending, she coyly assures me. And indeed, the actress was later seen at McCartney's after-party with Casamigos at Zero Bond, alongside Aubrey Plaza, who also wore a custom look from the designer that evening.

The actress—whose partnership with McCartney began in March with the designer's Spring-Summer 2023 campaign—had immediately known working together would be fulfilling. "I remember going to my fitting, where I knew I was going to meet her for the first time. I was really, really, nervous," Cline recalls. "And she came in like the Tasmanian Devil from Looney Tunes—just like a whirlwind of like light and laughter and happy chaos."

As much as Cline's first Met Gala look was an ode to Lagerfeld, it was also something she and McCartney felt passionate about, and something "very Stella" that Cline was happy to get to represent. Cline adds of McCartney, “She truly is the life of the party, so I'm just happy to be in her camp."