(Image credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
The fashion community often jokes about attendees at the annual Met Gala who ignore the theme, wearing something beautiful, yes, but something that doesn’t exactly embody the year’s exhibition and the story behind it. Lewis Hamilton is never one of those attendees, and his 2024 look is no exception.
This year’s Met Gala celebrated the opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute’s exhibition Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion and as such had a dress code of The Garden of Time, which was inspired by J.G. Ballard’s 1962 short story of the same name. To adhere to the theme, Hamilton—who raced from the Miami Grand Prix yesterday to New York City for fashion’s biggest night—worked with his stylist, Eric McNeal, and Burberry’s creative director, Daniel Lee, to create a custom, all-black ensemble dedicated to an 18th-century gardener named John Ystumllyn.
In an interview with Vogue on the steps of the Met, Hamilton shared that he stumbled across Ystumllyn’s story while he was gathering research for his Met Gala look. As a child, Ystumllyn was taken from Africa to Wales, where he was enslaved. There, he learned horticulture, going on to become the first Black gardener in Wales. “Inspired by the legacy of John Ystumllyn and the beauty of his work,” the seven-time Formula One world champion captioned a slideshow of IG photos from the red carpet. “Thank you, Daniel Lee and the Burberry team.”
Specifically, Hamilton wore a tailored black coat with floral bullion embellishments and an Alex Wharton poem titled “The Gardener” embroidered on the inside. Underneath, he wore a silk double-breasted suit with leather Burberry Saddle boots. As for jewelry, Hamilton partnered with Briony Raymond, donning yellow-diamond earrings, a diamond wrap ring, and a vintage 1960s yellow sapphire and diamond ring.
Scroll down to see Hamilton’s 2024 Met Gala look and read an excerpt of the poem stitched inside of it.
(Image credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
On Lewis Hamilton: Custom Burberry coat, suit, and shoes; Briony Raymond earrings and Étoile Triple-Wrap Ring ($16800)
(Image credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
