Botanicals in Brooklyn

AD visits Sourabh Gupta's studio in Brooklyn where he crafts his lifelike botanicals that then appear on gowns at the Met Gala or on large scale sculptures.

- NICOLE NEWBY

Ten days before the 2022 Met Gala, Sourabh Gupta found himself holed up in his New York studio, meticulously crafting a spray of ivy at the behest of Oscar de la Renta CEO Alex Bolen, who had first discovered the designer's work through Instagram. The final sculpture was draped over heiress Ivy Getty, appearing like a seamless extension of her vintage lace gown, vines climbing gracefully up her back, and forming a delicate halo around her bouffant. "The original idea was to work with copper or brass and paint over it. But we also wanted it to have a softer, more gentle quality. So we used paper that was prepared in a way that it turned almost velvety with a metallic sheen," he explains. This is the second time his work has appeared on the Met Gala red carpet; in 2019, he handcrafted 300 white paper daisies that were appliquéd onto a gown worn by fashion designer Tory Burch.