{"id":1035,"date":"2026-05-06T15:34:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/lena-dunhams-met-gala-2026-dress-was-inspired-by-blood-spatter\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T15:34:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:34:18","slug":"lena-dunhams-met-gala-2026-dress-was-inspired-by-blood-spatter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/lena-dunhams-met-gala-2026-dress-was-inspired-by-blood-spatter\/","title":{"rendered":"Lena Dunham&#8217;s Met Gala 2026 dress was inspired by blood spatter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/05\/127119628-1.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>That\u2019s one way to slay a red carpet.<\/p>\n<p>Lena Dunham <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/05\/04\/style\/lena-dunham-wears-red-feathers-and-sequins-at-met-gala-2026\/\">returned to the Met Gala red carpet<\/a> on Monday for the first time in seven years \u2014 in a dress inspired by a 17th century beheading.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cGirls\u201d creator, 39, wore a custom crimson gown by Valentino\u2019s Alessandro Michele, embroidered with sequins and trimmed with crow\u2019s feathers that encircled the high neckline and ran down the end of the long train.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Lena Dunham\u2019s custom Valentino gown for the 2026 Met Gala was based on a \u201cparticular blood spatter\u201d in a 17th-century beheading painting. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The artwork behind the look: Artemisia Gentileschi\u2019s circa-1620 masterwork \u201cJudith Slaying Holofernes.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">Corbis via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Designer Alessandro Michele keyed into the gory detail to create the gown, which featured crimson crow\u2019s feathers and all-over sequins. <span class=\"credit\">maison valentino\/ instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>This year\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2025\/11\/17\/style\/the-met-gala-2026-theme-costume-art-is-all-about-embracing-the-body\/\">\u201cCostume Art\u201d theme<\/a> asked guests to <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/05\/05\/style\/the-art-that-inspired-the-met-gala-2026s-most-creative-looks\/\">mine art history<\/a> for fashion inspiration, and together, Dunham and Michele zeroed in on Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi\u2019s circa-1620 masterwork \u201cJudith Slaying Holofernes,\u201d which depicts two women beheading an Assyrian general. <\/p>\n<p>Gentileschi, who was raped by her painting tutor as a teenager and tortured during the resulting 1612 trial, is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/artanddesign\/2016\/oct\/05\/artemisia-gentileshi-painter-beyond-caravaggio\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">believed to have painted<\/a> the scene as an act of retribution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRather than leaning into the Renaissance garments or the swords or any of it, he was attracted to a particular blood spatter on the neck of Holofernes,\u201d Dunham <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vogue.com\/article\/lena-dunham-2026-met-gala\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told Vogue<\/a>. \u201cObviously, that\u2019s what I was going to choose.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Dunham\u2019s onyx ear jackets with dangling silver sword drops offered another nod to the violent source material. <span class=\"credit\">Lev Radin\/Shutterstock<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Even her manicure committed to the theme \u2014 a blood-spatter pattern in red, painted by nail artist Sonya Meesh. <span class=\"credit\">sonya meesh\/ instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>She carried the reference into her jewelry, pairing the gown with onyx ear jackets featuring silver sword-shaped drops, a blood-spatter patterned manicure and bleached eyebrows. Scarlet Valentino Rockstud heels finished the look, which was styled by Talia Cassel and Michael Handler.<\/p>\n<p>For the after-party, she swapped the bloodbath drama for a more literal nod to the era: an ivory bustier dress with a flouncy gathered skirt, lace-up boots and a beaded pendant necklace.<\/p>\n<p>Monday was a full-circle moment for Dunham, who served on this year\u2019s host committee and <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/05\/04\/style\/lena-dunham-wears-red-feathers-and-sequins-at-met-gala-2026\/\">grew up visiting the museum every Sunday<\/a> with her family. Her Met history, though, has been anything but smooth.<\/p>\n<p>In her <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2025\/11\/17\/style\/the-met-gala-2026-theme-costume-art-is-all-about-embracing-the-body\/\">new memoir, \u201cFamesick,\u201d<\/a> Dunham reveals she was hospitalized for days after the 2017 gala due to endometriosis complications and attended in 2018 while on leave from a rehab facility, describing it as \u201ca fever dream \u2014 cameras flashing, people shouting names that weren\u2019t mine, champagne I couldn\u2019t drink circulating like a joke I wasn\u2019t in on.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Dunham served on this year\u2019s host committee \u2014 a meaningful return after past galas came amid hospital and rehab stints. <span class=\"credit\">talia cassel\/ instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Her after-party outfit took a more literal Renaissance approach: an ivory bustier dress with a gathered skirt and lace-up boots. <span class=\"credit\">GC Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Her last appearance came in 2019, when she and \u201cGirls\u201d co-star Jemima Kirke wore matching Christopher Kane latex.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis year was a bit of a vote of confidence,\u201d Dunham told Vogue. \u201cI felt like they were saying, \u2018We see you\u2019re feeling better. You\u2019re in your body. You can do this.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Off the carpet, Dunham\u2019 has been touring \u201cFamesick\u201d around the country, and her Netflix rom-com \u201cGood Sex,\u201d starring Natalie Portman and Mark Ruffalo, is slated for release later this year.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/05\/06\/style\/lena-dunham-met-gala-2026-dress-was-inspired-by-blood-spatter\/\" target=\"_blank\">Source link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>That\u2019s one way to slay a red carpet. Lena Dunham returned to the Met Gala<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1036,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/127119628-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}