When Zayn Malik walked the red carpet of the Met Gala, all eyes were glued to his outfit.
With girlfriend Gigi Hadid on his arm, he showed up dressed in Versace. And while he looked killer in his black and white suit, it was the metal armor going down his arms that really had people talking.
Zayn admits that he received a lot of backlash for the outfit, but he was honored to wear it. In a new interview with Dazed and Confused, he explains his ensemble choice and gives readers a bit of insight into why it meant so much to him.
The theme of this year was Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology, and attendees were meant to dress accordingly. Additionally, the Gala was held only days after the legendary Prince’s passing, and Zayn decided wanted to pay him tribute .
On top of that, Zayn was personally asked by vice president of Versace, Donatella Versace, to design his look himself. So with the desire to honor Prince with his outfit, and taking the theme of technology into consideration, Zayn got to work.
“I’m conscious in the back of my head, of [Prince] he was sort of bold and fearless in the way he decided to dress. He created another world with the clothes he wore, and it gave him an otherworldly feel, which is all part of his legend, I guess. That was kind of what I was doing at the Met Ball… being fearless. But I was just having fun.”
People online were saying negative things, with a number of people comparing Zayn’s clothing to a character from the video game Mortal Combat. But Zayn didn’t mind this comparison at all, considering his outfit design was actually inspired by Jax from the series.
“It’s a bit easy to just dress up in a suit. I like to do things that are a bit outside of that.”
What did you think of Zayn’s red carpet attire? Let us know in the comments or tweet us at @CelebMix!