The Met Gala Archive
When the Costume Institute's theme was Camp, two of the night's most photographed friends turned to Vex — opera gloves on one, a sculpted swim cap on the other. A small Vex story inside the biggest fashion night of the year.
Lena Dunham and Jemima Kirke arriving together at the Met Gala in Vex.
The 2019 Met Gala asked guests to interpret Camp: Notes on Fashion — Susan Sontag's essay translated into red-carpet form. Sequins, drag references, theatrical excess, irony as glamour. Latex belonged in that conversation. It always has.
Lena Dunham and Jemima Kirke arrived together, longtime friends and former co-stars, and brought Vex with them. A pair of opera-length latex gloves on Lena. A molded swim cap on Jemima. Two of the smallest pieces of clothing on the carpet that night, and two of the most deliberate.
Camp rewards confidence and a wink. It punishes anything that takes itself too seriously. A latex opera glove does both jobs at once — it reads as old-Hollywood evening glove from across the room and as something else entirely up close. The swim cap reframes glamour through 1950s pool couture. Both pieces sit at the exact intersection the theme was asking for.
Hand-poured 0.45mm latex sourced from England. Sculpts to the arm, reflects light like patent leather, stretches above the elbow without sagging. A red-carpet staple in our archive for over two decades.
The accessory that converts a look. Our caps are molded for a clean profile, finished by hand, and built to read sculptural under the strongest red-carpet lighting — never costume-y, never floppy.
Vex has been making latex in California for 26 years. The brand started with the same pieces these two friends pulled from for the Met — opera gloves, swim caps, foundational accessories cut and assembled by hand. The same artisans, the same 0.45mm English latex, the same quiet refusal to mass-produce.
That's why these pieces still look right on a 2019 Met carpet, and why they'll still look right when someone reaches for them again on the 2030 one. Latex done well doesn't date.
Shop the Met Gala Pieces
The exact silhouettes from the carpet — opera gloves and sculpted swim caps — are still part of the core Vex collection. Available in standard sizing or made-to-measure for an exact fit.
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Whether you want a single statement glove, a sculpted swim cap, or a fully custom evening look — every Vex piece is hand-made by the same small team that's been doing this for 26 years.
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