With the Met Gala days away, Gabrielle Union is providing some wisdom for those attending the exclusive event for the first time.
The Truth Be Told actress, 51, opened up about the ‘nerve-wracking’ experience of working with a designer, telling PEOPLE why she ‘absolutely’ loves it.
‘I love that part,’ she said of showing off a new look at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala.
‘I think it’s nerve-wracking for a lot of people, but when you really f*** with a designer and you really love leaning into their creativity and their interpretation of the theme and you are a conduit of somebody else’s artistic freedom and expression that also matches your own, it’s f***ing awesome,’ added Union.
She also admitted to loving the red carpet. ‘A lot of people want to rush through it, not me,’ said Union.
Gabrielle Union opened up about the ‘nerve-wracking’ experience of working with a designer for the Met Gala, telling PEOPLE why she ‘absolutely’ loves it; seen at the 2022 Met Gala in NYC
‘I love that part,’ she said of showing off a new look at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala; seen on May 2
‘They literally are like, “all right, Gab, move it up the stairs,”‘ she added. ‘Because I love it. I love it. I absolutely love it.’
Once she’s inside the event, it’s a different story. ‘It can be a little nerve wracking if you don’t know everyone at your table or something like that,’ explained Union.
‘But I’ve also made more friends in those situations. That gave me so much anxiety. ‘I’m not going to know anyone’ — Of course you know people.’
Union recalled, ‘I sat at a table with Jack Harlow before he was Jack Harlow, and Tommy Hilfiger and all these different people and Kris Jenner.
‘I left there with friends and I left there feeling like, “Wow, this table somehow sees me and understood me more than some tables that are paid to know me and understand me,”‘ she added.
The Bring It On star said that although the event ‘can be nerve-wracking,’ she likes to ‘lean into the experience.’
‘But it can be nerve-wracking when we’re in industries that cater to us and they massage our fears and they don’t have us lean into them in environments like that — where we can grow and expand in our discomfort and not being centered in every single thing.
‘You can appreciate other people and get to know other people that might be feeling the same way that you are,’ added Union.
For last year’s ‘Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty’ theme, Union paid tribute to the late designer in a red leather Prada duster layered over a matching floor-length dress.
She also admitted to loving the red carpet. ‘A lot of people want to rush through it, not me,’ said Union; seen at the 2023 Met Gala
Once she’s inside the event, it’s a different story. ‘It can be a little nerve wracking if you don’t know everyone at your table or something like that,’ explained Union; seen left at the 2021 Met Gala and right at the 2019 Met Gala
This year’s Met Gala theme is ‘ Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,’ showcasing the spring 2024 exhibition, which aims to ‘push the boundaries of our imagination and invite us to experience the multisensory facets of a garment’; see with husband Dwyane Wade at the 2022 Met Gala
Whatever designer look Union ends up serving, it will be preserved for generations to come, as she stores her archive in ‘a temperature-controlled space’; seen at the 2018 Met Gala
Her husband Dwyane Wade complemented her in a buttoned-up black leather vest with matching gloves as they walked the carpet together.
This year’s theme is ‘Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,’ showcasing the spring 2024 exhibition, which aims to ‘push the boundaries of our imagination and invite us to experience the multisensory facets of a garment.’
Whatever designer look Union ends up serving, it will be preserved for generations to come.
‘So I have a storage that’s just full of things that I’m like, oh, I want to be able to tell this story or how I felt wearing this,’ she told People. ‘So it started with me putting in this beautiful display case my first Met ball outfit.
‘I was also in the museum and then I realized maybe I don’t have to display it in my home, but I can put it in a temperature-controlled space that preserves the material and the memories. So even if [Kaavia] never wants to wear any of it, she will have this little bit of her mom and the stories that go with it,’ added Union.
Union shares 5-year-old daughter Kaavia James with Wade, 42, whom she married in 2014. She’s also stepmom to his kids Zaire, 22, and 16-year-old Zaya.
