Extravagant gowns can yield a very particular kind of fashion emergency requiring the help of assistants, seamstresses and even fellow celebs.
When fashion connoisseurs watch the red carpet at the Met Gala, they might evaluate a celebrity’s attire by considering the construction and intricacy of the garment, its adherence to
the theme, its boldness or lack thereof, its historic references.
But when regular people watch the carpet at the Met Gala, they might be thinking one of several things, including: That looks excruciatingly painful. Or: Can she breathe? Or, most importantly: How can she possibly use the bathroom in that outfit?
We are regular people too, and we decided to investigate this issue, which is obviously of critical interest to the republic: what happens when a celebrity at the Met Gala goes to the loo?
You will be shocked – shocked! – to learn that Big Fashion does not want to talk about pee.
“She is unable to provide [a] quote for this,” said the agent for stylist Petra Flannery, who has dressed Emma Stone and Zoe Saldaña.
“Samantha will unfortunately have to pass at the moment,” said a representative for stylist Samantha McMillen, who has dressed the Fanning sisters, Elle and Dakota.
But we intrepid investigative reporters will stop at nothing to bring you the facts. (Just hand us the Public Service Pulitzer now, okay?) After dozens (dozens!) of strenuous emails, we finally landed a tip.
“Yes, it is extremely difficult, and normally means no drinking anything like water, and needing assistance to disrobe and then re-robe afterwards,” said Miranda Almond, stylist to Olivia Colman, via email. “That’s when a publicist or whomever is the plus-one really earns their stripes!”
Aha! The assistants. The poor assistants. Their path to rising up the fashion and celebrity ranks includes helping stars who are sewn into their own underpants onto and off the toilet. For more on this, we reached out to Brian Daniel, founder of the Celebrity PA Network (Motto: “Staffing for the High-Net-Worth”) on what sorts of bathroom jobs a personal assistant might be expected to perform.
“Some of the big stars have their own assistants on site; others are provided by the event,” Daniel said in an email. “The star’s own assistant would hang out backstage because the ‘freebie assistants’ (floaters) who are at the event normally just help with dress trains. In short, a star who doesn’t ‘know’ the assistant won’t let them help the star use the bathroom – who cares if they signed an NDA or not.”
But when we asked to speak to any assistants who have previously toiled in the Met’s toilet-stall trenches, he demurred. “It’s an unwritten and unspoken rule in our business not to talk,” he told The Post. But he did give us one more tip: some dresses, Daniel said, contain hidden “trap doors” near the crotch that can be camouflaged by beading or other decorative elements.
Stylist Mickey Freeman, who styled Tony Award-winning producer Cody Renard Richard for last year’s Met Gala, confirmed it. “The true heroes in these situations are often the designers and tailors,” Freeman said via email, noting that there can be discreet zippers that allow a celeb to go to the bathroom without their assistant. It’s a major concern for the people he dresses: “We often find that celebrity clients do discuss bathroom logistics with us,” he said.
A few brave celebrities have even discussed these logistics with the media.
In 2017, Katy Perry wore a crimson veiled Maison Martin Margiela gown, and talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres later asked her about her bathroom strategy.
Katy Perry at the 2017 Met Gala. Photo / Dia Dipasupil, Getty Images
“There was a lot of self-control, practice and GoGirls. You know those little contraptions where you then get to urinate standing up?” Perry asked. DeGeneres did not. “I’ve used them in several music videos because I always find myself in this predicament where I have a very extravagant, lavish, unrealistic, unpractical costume on.” (GoGirl later promoted the device as Perry’s “secret peeing weapon”.)
When Sarah Silverman attended in 2014 – she wore Zac Posen – “All I could think about was finding a Snapple bottle in case I needed to pee,” she told Harper’s Bazaar.
In 2018, model Winnie Harlow said that Perry helped her go to the bathroom. “She went in the stall with me, and held my dress up,” Harlow told Access Live. “That’s what really happens in the girls’ bathroom.” (If only Perry had another GoGirl. Alas.)
Kim Kardashian had a completely different plan, as she discussed on a 2019 episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. For that year’s Met Gala – the infamous “Camp” one – she wore a skintight water-droplet-beaded Thierry Mugler gown that constricted her breathing.
“Honestly, if it’s an emergency, I think I pee my pants and then have my sister wipe my leg up,” Kardashian said. “I’m not even joking. She can wipe my leg up.” It is unclear which Kardashian sister – Kylie or Kendall Jenner – would have received this dubious honour. But history repeated itself in 2022, when Kendall Jenner was seen in another episode of the family’s reality show peeing in an ice bucket on the way to the gala.
Kim Kardashian in 2019: “Honestly, if it’s an emergency, I think I pee my pants and then have my sister wipe my leg up.” Photo / Karwai Tang, Getty Images
“That is so mortifying for whoever has to deal with my pee later, I’m so sorry,” Jenner said on the show. (Assistants! Hope they’re well-compensated!)
In 2012, Vampire Diaries star Nina Dobrev recounted on Conan O’Brien’s eponymous show that she had been sewn into a golden Donna Karan Atelier gown, and “tried to hold it in for so long”, but that nature eventually called. A seamstress was on hand to rip her out of the dress and sew her back in. “You get on your phone and you’re like, ‘It’s go time. Now,’” Dobrev said.
“This just seems so medieval to me,” O’Brien remarked.
Ironically, wearing a dress to the Met Gala makes the bathroom easier for a man – or so said Pete Davidson, who wore a Thom Browne slip in 2021. “I’m excited for how easy it is to pee. You can literally just lift it up,” he told GQ.
Freeman recounted one bathroom mishap. A Met Gala client of his made a “stunning entrance in an elaborate couture sheer mesh jumpsuit, intricately embroidered and adorned with a stunning array of hand-stitched Swarovski crystals and pearls, covering her from neck to toe”. (Freeman declined to say who this celebrity was, but Detective Google shows that, in 2024, model Anok Yai wore an outfit that matches this description.)
There was one problem: the zipper got stuck while this client was getting dressed. The tailor decided to sew her into the bodysuit. During the dinner, she was “swept up in the grandeur and excitement”, had some drinks, and “completely forgot about the zipper situation”, Freeman said.
She ended up tearing a hole in the gown, he added, because “inevitably, her bladder decided to remind her”.
– Shane O’Neill contributed to this report.
SaveShare this article
Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.
Copy LinkEmailFacebookTwitter/XLinkedInReddit