Every time the Met Gala poses its annual riddle, How far would you go for fashion?, A-listers and their stylists pull out all the stops to make the future look like last season. Of course, the Met Gala prompts its fair share of raids on vintage glam vaults. But only those make history who rewrite the style forecast, blending yesterday’s masterpieces with tomorrow’s mood boards. The sartorial scientists of the 2025 Met Gala also shouldered the responsibility to shape up the couture future one sequin or, shall we say, crystal at a time, with Damson Idris’s helmet that put every Met headpiece to shame.
So, what is the story of this 20,000 crystal-studded helmet that made shutterbugs do a double-take?
Damson Idris brings the Met Gala magic in a crystal-studded helmet
The Met Gala is incomplete without A-listers pulling a rabbit from their extravagant hats. But Damson Idris knows better. Instead of pulling his sartorial tricks from the worn-out hats, he pulled up in a helmet encrusted with over 20,000 Swarovski crystals.
According to ELLE, the British actor showed up
at the historic Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in an APGXP race car from the set of F1.
Damson Idris’ Tommy Hilfiger Reveal at the 2025 Met Gala😮💨 pic.twitter.com/u0whUChvw6
— Outlander Magazine (@StreetFashion01) May 6, 2025
Sporting a Tommy Hilfiger racing suit, Idris hit it out of the park as the master of disguise. In a cinematic surprise, he tore out of his racing suit for a second sartorial reveal, perfectly aligned to the evening’s Tailored for You theme, in a bespoke Tommy Hilfiger red rouge tuxedo and Tommy Tartan plaid trousers. As Hilfiger tells ELLE, the piece is an “extraordinary feat of craftsmanship,”
and a shining showcase of the “Tommy twist.”
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While the power of differentiation is what makes and breaks fashion, Swarovski creative director explained why the Met helmet serves as a conjunction of fashion and fantasy.
Swarovski creative director weighs in on Damson Idris’ Met Gala helmet
Damson Idris has been Tommy Hilfiger’s brand ambassador for the menswear line since 2023. Speaking with ELLE about his sartorial vision, Hilfiger elaborated that he aimed to combine fashion and racing heritage. As for the partnership, Swarovski’s creative director, Giovanna Engelbert, said they always knew the helmet had to be “iconic and unexpected.
” In their quest to do so, “it became the ultimate luxury accessory—sculptural, cinematic, and rooted in pop culture.”
Damson Idris in custom Tommy Hilfiger for the #MetGala2025 pic.twitter.com/RPJy6n4244
— Kea (@jacquemusx) May 6, 2025
Everyone who has worked behind Idris’ Met Gala look knows about the risks of fashion and misinterpretation. At first, it may look ridiculous, even peculiar to an extent,
but that is the thing about fashion: it demands observance and the ability to read. And since Idris summoned the glances at the fashion footnotes from the minute he stepped up on the blue carpet, it is safe to say the designers delivered because every look at Damson Idris has fans screaming damn son!
Did you know Damson Idris’ Met Gala helmet is made from 20,000 Swarovski crystals? Let us know in the comments below!