Lorde says her Met Gala dress was an “Easter egg” for new album ‘Virgin’: “It represents where I’m at gender-wise”

7 May, 2025

Lorde has revealed that her dress at the 2025 Met Gala was an “Easter egg” for her upcoming album ‘Virgin’ – see what she had to say below.

Yesterday (May 6), the ‘Royals’ singer walked the red carpet at the Met Gala ahead of the arrival of her fourth record ‘Virgin’, which is due for release on June 27. While on the carpet, she was stopped by Emma Chamberlain for Vogue, where they discussed her custom dress.

Lorde told Chamberlain that her dress was a Thom Browne piece, which she created, going on to tease that it’s “something of an Easter egg. More will be revealed,” going on to add that it “really represents where I’m at gender-wise. I feel like a man and a woman… it’s a take on the cummerbund.”

The interview, which took place during Vogue‘s pre-Gala livestream coverage, has since been captured by fans and shared on social media – check out a clip of the interaction below.

Following the Met Gala ceremony, Lorde took to social media to show off her greyish-silver dress. She thanked Thom Browne for the “modern mystic attire”, which had her “nana’s brooches on my jacket”.

“It was amazing to feel so much joy and energy and pain and healing and reclamation that had happened, was happening, on the carpet and in the room, I’m grateful to have been invited into that space. I felt all the parts of me that had come together in the years since I last attended. My skin was a mess but my insides shone past it. Pāua shards and city debris on the bitten nails… In his speech Colman Domingo said thank your ancestors, he was talking specifically to Black people but it was a beautiful thing to have said, I touched the brooches and did so.”

The cummerbund element of Lorde’s dress sees her flip the garment – typically used by men in tuxedoes – for her top, and expanded threading for her lower dress.

This isn’t the first time Lorde has experimented with her idea of genders. In an email to fans announcing ‘Virgin’, she shared that the record reflects “MY FEMININITY: RAW, PRIMAL, INNOCENT, ELEGANT, OPENHEARTED, SPIRITUAL, MASC”.

Additionally, she recently had a chat with Document Journal that was published on May 1 that sees her further hint at her “gender broadening”, and her latest single ‘What Was That’ being product of her growth.

“I had come back from London to New York after this period of great turbulence in my personal life,” she said. “Becoming single, but also really facing my body stuff head-on, and starting to feel my gender broadening a little bit. Just being back in my house and feeling this big wave of grief. I just kept thinking, ‘What was all of that?’”

Lorde
Lorde. CREDIT: Thistle Brown

Lorde’s fourth album ‘Virgin’ was co-produced by the singer alongside Jim-E Stack. Fabiana Palladino, Andrew Aged, Buddy Ross, Dan Nigro and Blood Orange’s Devonté Hynes were also involved.

As for the inspiration behind the project, Lorde said: “The colour of the album is clear. Like bathwater, windows, ice, spit. Full transparency. The language is plain and unsentimental. The sounds are the same wherever possible. I was trying to see myself, all the way through.

“I was trying to make a document that reflected my femininity: raw, primal, innocent, elegant, openhearted, spiritual, masc. I’m proud and scared of this album. There’s nowhere to hide. I believe that putting the deepest parts of ourselves to music is what sets us free.”

She has since talked about how collaborating with Charli XCX influenced the record. Meanwhile, fans have been reacting to the intriguing cover artwork for Lorde’s upcoming album.

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