Pop star Miley Cyrus stunned the Grammys red carpet on Sunday by wearing a gown made of 14,000 gold safety pins.
Her hair in a Farrah Fawcett-style bouffant, the singer-songwriter — who went on to snag her first ever Grammy awards — was dressed in a custom look from Maison Margiela which the house said took “675 hours of meticulous work,” to make. The metallic, net-like dress channeled both a 1920s flapper and an Egyptian goddess, its pins intricately arranged to resemble a collar and undergarments.
The French label’s creative director John Galliano appeared to dip into his own archives for inspiration, with several social media users pointing out the similarity between Cyrus’ revealing gown and pieces in the designer’s Fall 1997 ready-to-wear collection.
Cyrus completed her red carpet look with a pair of yellow tabis, the split-toe shoes that have become a cult favorite among Margiela fans.
The luxury house has been the talk of the town in recent weeks. Their couture show in Paris in January featuring actor Gwendoline Christie was not only widely-lauded by critics, but the “china doll” makeup created for the show went viral, fuelling endless speculation about how it was achieved.
And while the creator of that look — legendary makeup artist Pat McGrath — was also involved with Cyrus’ appearance, there was none of the “glass skin” she put on the Margiela runway. Instead, her products were used by fellow makeup artist James Kaliardos to create a sun-kissed look, complete with winged eyeliner.
Kaliardos said in an Instagram post that he wanted Cyrus to “glow like a golden goddess, sublime, with sheer skin, glowy finish, a touchable beauty.”
The pop star’s tresses, meanwhile, were sculpted by hair stylist Bob Recine. Fashioning dramatic curls from Cyrus’ highlight-streaked brown hair — which some likened to the styles loved by her godmother, Dolly Parton — Recine made each strand appear to have a life of its own.
“This last year I featured Miley’s wet look for hair,” Recine said, according to a press statement from haircare brand Nexxus. This year we decided we wanted something dry and bigger… fuller hair, but sexy and tousled and touchable.”
The gold safety pin creation was one of five outfit changes for Cyrus at the awards. Later in the evening, she donned a glittery black jumpsuit to accept her Best Pop Solo Performance award (for “Flowers”) from pop legend Mariah Carey, followed by a vintage silver flapper-style dress — designed by Bob Mackie and reminiscent of Tina Turner — to perform the song on stage. Look four, seen backstage, was a strapless black lace jumpsuit with a marabou feather jacket and then, to accept the Record of the Year, she chose a brown sequined one-shoulder Gucci gown with side slit, worn with a matching miniature bamboo bag also by the design house.
CNN’S Oscar Holland contributed to this story.