To sum up Kylie Jenner’s 2026 Met Gala look, we’ll use three words: chic, surreal illusion. The reality TV star and beauty founder, a mainstay in Met Gala best-dressed lists, does it again this year in a Schiaparelli dress that gives fluid, sculptural movement as she walks down the red carpet. “The dress feels like it’s slipping away,” celebrity hairstylist Iggy Rosales tells Vogue. “It becomes this living sculpture.”
The beauty look, according to Rosales, had to be an extension of the dress. To do that, he and celebrity makeup artist Ariel Tejada studied how it moves and sits, testing various hairstyles, textures, and brows to match. “We even tested no brows just to see how far we could push it,” adds Rosales. (Instead of no brows, she debuts bleached brows.)
For hair, Rosales wanted to convey the same tension as the dress. While it is very controlled and precise, something more fluid and exposed lies underneath. “For me, it was about tension between something sculpted and something undone,” he says. “I wanted the hair to reflect that.”
He started by giving the hair a smooth blowout using Kenra Professional Platinum Blow Dry Spray before curling the hair and pinning each section to set in place with Kenra Professional Perfect Medium Spray to give hair a strong hold that can still move. After setting the curls, he took them down, brushed, and sculpted them, giving the midsection more precise shaping around the face and a kiss-curl over the eye area. The ends were completely brushed out for a softer, slightly undone feel. “It feels like it’s unraveling in a really intentional way,” he says. To finish, he spritzed a touch of Kenra Platinum Dry Texture Spray for added airy texture.
Working with Jenner is easy, Rosales says, and he loves the freedom of creating something bigger than just a fabulous hairdo. “It’s the freedom to really create something,” he says. “You’re not just doing glam. You’re building a full moment, [and] when everything aligns—the dress, the hair, the makeup—it feels like you’ve created a character, not just a look.”
Kylie Jenner’s Past Met Gala Looks
Met Gala 2026: See Every Celebrity Arrival, Read the Latest Stories, and Get Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Access Here
