The Oscar nominee and I speak during the frenzied 15-minute window before her appointment with Lord Gavin McLeod-Valentine, a celebrity facialist with clients ranging from Kim Kardashian to Jonathan Bailey. Her eventual slicked-back bun and smoky eye makeup came courtesy of Blunt’s longtime glam team, including hairstylist Laini Reeves and makeup artist Jenn Streicher. “I’ll come with a bunch of ideas; they’ll send me images. It’s very low-stress with them. We just know each other,” Blunt says. “Jenn could paint my face with her eyes closed at this point, and it’s the same with Laini. Recently, I’ve been wanting to do a much cleaner space of makeup, but I don’t really want to do that tonight,” she adds. “We’ve got to push the boundaries of what I’m usually comfortable with. Obviously, it looks nothing like me on the school run, clearly.”
Emily Blunt poses before Met Gala 2026Jenna Jones
As with her glam team, Blunt has worked with her stylist, Jessica Pastor, for 20 years, and she helped the actor reverse engineer her look around the half-a-million-dollar Mikimoto body jewelry. “It’s a necklace that blurs the line between adornment and clothing in a way that aligns with the theme,” Blunt says. The Costume Institute’s spring exhibition this year is “Costume Art,” and it centers on “depictions of the dressed body” in The Met’s collection. “It organically moves with the body rather than sitting on top of it,” Blunt continues. “It’s very sculptural, almost architectural…. It’s a very edgy look, and I haven’t done something of this silhouette before.”
Featuring thousands of Akoya pearls, the daring piece of jewelry begins with a structured diamond collar at the neckline, which then separates into multiple symmetrical pearl strands that cascade and drape across the body and arms. At the center of the collar is a remarkable 21.85-carat pear-shaped morganite, with 45.97 carats of diamonds surrounding it. Blunt accessorized her look with a pair of diamond-and-pearl earrings from Mikimoto’s coveted Bows collection and two statement pearl-and-diamond rings. Any nerves about dripping in this many diamonds? “Yes. Always,” Blunt confirms. “Miraculously, I have not lost a piece of jewelry yet.”
