At the 2026 Met Gala, honoring the exhibition “Costume Art,” a parade of stars turned to an unexpected accessory to amplify their silhouettes: extra-long, pin-straight hair extensions. From Nicole Kidman’s bleach-blond falls to Lisa’s wet, hip-grazing ends, the look was less about hair and more about the art of elongation—a trick that has long defined lingerie’s own relationship with the body. Just as a garter belt extends the leg line or a longline bra creates a smooth, unbroken torso, these extensions drew the eye downward, lengthening the wearer’s form into a single, dramatic stroke.
Historically, the impulse to extend and shape is woven into lingerie’s DNA. In the 18th century, panniers and corsets exaggerated the female silhouette, much like the stiffened petticoats that preceded them. Brands like Chanel, which dressed Kidman in a feathered red gown, revolutionized women’s wear in the 1920s by freeing the body from corsetry—yet here, her hair echoed the very artifice Coco Chanel sought to dismantle. Similarly, Saint Laurent, whose gown Rosé wore, has a legacy of blending masculine tailoring with feminine sensuality, a tension mirrored in her severe, waist-length platinum strands.
Amanda Seyfried’s custom Prada babydoll dress—a nod to the brand’s 1990s revival of the lingerie-as-outerwear trend—paired perfectly with her honey-blond ponytail, a style that recalls the soft, romantic curls of 19th-century boudoir portraits. Meanwhile, Katy Perry’s inky black extensions, tucked behind a silver mask, evoked the anonymous allure of vintage corset ads, where the woman’s face was often obscured to focus on the garment. This year’s Met Gala reminded us that fashion, like lingerie, is an architecture of illusion—and sometimes, the longest line tells the shortest story.
Originally reported by WWD