Grimes was a vision in futuristic silver at the Met Gala on Monday night (Sept. 13), rocking a Dune-inspired gown and enormous sword — which was apparently made out of “fermented guns” — to match her metallic mask.
The 33-year-old singer explained to Vogue that her custom body-hugging Iris van Herpen gown — made of liquid silicone and hand-pleated silk — was based on David Lynch’s legendary 1984 adaption of Frank Herbert’s 1965 sci-fi novel Dune. The film has been re-made with Met co-host Timothée Chalamet, and is due out on Oct. 22.
“We were working with the Dune movie people,” Grimes told the mag, explaining that the film’s producers hired her as “a professional fan, or like, an influencer or something.” But after they couldn’t nail down anything official, she just kind of winged it and went her own, unofficial way.
The startling look — which reportedly took 900 hours to fashion — included a shiny silver metal face mask, lavender lace-up Marc Jacobs platform boots, bejeweled eyebrows, a small illuminated book, and that giant, attention-grabbing sword.
“It’s not a prop sword. I tried to pick it up and this is not really a one-handed situation,” Grimes assured, referring to the heft of her fashion weapon. Then, reading from notes on her phone, she added: “The sword is based on a western European sword from the end of the Middle Ages around 1400. … Is a permanent piece of the Met’s collection, and the sword is also cast from a Colt AR-15A3.”
According to the artist, the somewhat unwieldy accessory was forged by a group who collects unwanted automatic rifles that were melted down. From there, she explained, the group then turns those liquified firearms into “perfect replicas of medieval swords, which I think is just so cool — I think it’s a beautiful thing.”
In an interview with ET, Grimes referred to her sword as being made out of “fermented guns.” She joked to the outlet, “So it’s like, I was a bit of a gun.”
Check out her look below.