The first concert Phoebe Dynevor ever went to was the Spice Girls. Tonight she becomes the first person to attend the Met Gala dressed by Victoria Beckham–or Posh, as she was known to Dynevor and millions of other little girls who worshipped at the altar of Girl Power. “Ten-year-old me could never have seen this coming,” the actor told Vogue a couple of days before she was due to step into her VB gown, which features hundreds of hand-cut flowers painstakingly stitched onto delicate tulle and vintage lace–each one dyed to a “faded rose” shade chosen specifically to match the Bridgerton star’s skin tone.
Dynevor’s romantic gown is the first full custom Victoria Beckham look at the Met Gala, a semi-transparent confection that is, per the brand, “at once fragile and delicate.” “It’s like something out of a fairytale,” said the 29-year-old actor—which is apt, given that tonight’s ball celebrates the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition, which takes “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” as its theme. “It has this beautiful train with flowers going all the way up it… it’s very ethereal.” That bespoke shade of pink also represents new territory for Dynevor, who is most often found wearing black or white. “I’m very excited to be wearing color! It’s definitely new for me.”
“We decided to use vintage lace from our archives, as there was something quite romantic about reviving it and bringing it back to life—much like a sleeping beauty,” Beckham told Vogue. “[Phoebe is] such a beautiful, talented young woman and I really wanted to design the gown with her in mind–to be almost like an extension of her. We even hand-dyed the flowers to match her skin.”
A ravishing beauty look–care of Sofia Tilbury, niece of make-up guru Charlotte Tilbury, with whom Dynevor is attending—leans further into the fairytale mood by showing off fresh and glossy skin, flushed cheeks, and rosebud lips worthy of a princess from a Brothers Grimm tale. A classic English rose, Dynevor’s “ethereal, radiant beauty creates such a perfect canvas for capturing tonight’s magical theme!” said Charlotte Tilbury, whose cult classic Magic Cream was used to prime the star’s skin before a veil of Beautiful Skin Foundation was applied. Sofia Tilbury explained that they wanted Dynevor’s make-up to have the same “soft, romantic vibe” as her VB gown. “We really wanted to create that harmony between her outfit and her make-up, with soft, blooming cheeks and rosebud-stained lips.”