{"id":418351,"date":"2026-05-08T18:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T18:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/418351\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T18:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T18:48:11","slug":"blake-lively-struggled-to-find-a-designer-to-dress-her-for-2026-met-gala-star-comes-with-baggage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/418351\/","title":{"rendered":"Blake Lively Struggled to Find a Designer to Dress Her for 2026 Met Gala, Star \u2018Comes With Baggage\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blake Lively<\/a> looked radiant at the 2026 Met Gala on May 4, donning an archival Atelier Versace gown for the \u201cFashion Is Art\u201d dress code \u2014 but she reportedly did not have an easy time finding a designer to work with.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis wasn\u2019t about designers being afraid of looking mean,\u201d a source told Rob Shuter<\/a> in the Friday, May 8 edition of the Naughty But Nice Substack<\/a>. \u201cIt was about not wanting to look like they were backing a mean girl.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sources told Shuter that the 38 year-old Gossip Girl alum\u2019s It Ends With Us lawsuit<\/a> damaged her image and raised concerns among certain brands.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlake\u2019s brand has absolutely collapsed in certain fashion circles,\u201d a second source explained. \u201cA few years ago, having Blake wear your gown was considered a huge win. Now some designers think it hurts more than it helps.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

JOHN ANGELILLO\/UPI\/Newscom\/The Mega Agency<\/p>\n

\u201cLuxury brands are obsessed with image,\u201d a third insider pointed out. \u201cRight now, Blake comes with baggage, drama, and polarization \u2014 and fashion houses hate distraction.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, things changed for Lively when Vogue legend Anna Wintour<\/a>, the lead chairperson of the annual fashion gala, stepped in.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce Anna publicly backed Blake, the resistance softened immediately,\u201d a fourth insider stated. \u201cWithout her, Blake probably doesn\u2019t get through the door in the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wintour even had the A Simple Favor star seated at her table, sources noted.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

DPRF\/starmaxinc.com\/Newscom\/The Mega Agency<\/p>\n

As Star previously reported<\/a>, Lively settled the It Ends With Us lawsuit on Monday, April 4, the same day as the Met Gala, with lawyers from both sides issuing a joint statement.<\/p>\n

Lively\u2019s legal saga<\/a> had begun in December 2024 when she alleged that her costar and director, Justin Baldoni<\/a>, sexually harassed her on the set of It Ends With Us. In April, Judge Lewis Liman<\/a> threw out 10 of Lively\u2019s 13 claims, including all those against Baldoni.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were left with a case that was really Blake Lively versus It Ends with Us, the movie LLC, the agency group, and Wayfarer Studios, so it was a very different case at the point in time that we had those settlement discussions than ever was before,\u201d Baldoni\u2019s lawyer, Bryan Freedman<\/a>, told Extra<\/a> on Tuesday, May 5.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not his settlement,\u201d Freedman noted of Baldoni. \u201cHe\u2019s already out of the case by the time this settlement discussion even starts. Justin Baldoni is not a party, and that\u2019s what gets forgotten a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story Blake Lively Struggled to Find a Designer to Dress Her for 2026 Met Gala, Star \u2018Comes With Baggage\u2019<\/a> first appeared on Star<\/a>. Add Star as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blake Lively looked radiant at the 2026 Met Gala on May 4, donning an archival Atelier Versace gown…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[65058,3780,430,156,3783,194816,83664,111,139,69,18110],"class_list":["post-418351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-anna-wintour","tag-blake-lively","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-justin-baldoni","tag-luxury-brands","tag-met-gala","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rob-shuter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}