Heidi Klum's Met Gala looksparked confusion in New York on Monday night, as the 52-year-old arrived at the 2026 event encased in a full-body 'statue' costume that many online mistook for an AI-generated image of the supermodel.

This year's Met Gala theme, 'Fashion Is Art,' tied into the Metropolitan Museum of Art's forthcoming Costume Institute exhibition, 'Costume Art,' which opens on 10 May. Guests were invited to interpret the idea of the dressed body as a canvas. Klum, a reliable maximalist on any red carpet, chose not just to nod to the concept but to turn herself into what looked, at first glance, like a walking museum piece.

The German model andProject Runwayhost appeared on the steps of The Met in a pewter-toned ensemble that clung to her from head to toe. Gossamer-thin fabric was draped and ruched to mimic classical sculpture, while her face, hands and feet were finished in the same grey tone, creating the illusion of a single slab of carved stone. Only on closer inspection did it become clear that this 'marble' could move.

The revelation came after Klum explained on the red carpet that her Met Gala look was directly inspired by 'The Veiled Vestal,' an 1800s sculpture by Italian artist Raffaele Monti. She told Vogue that she had walked through the museum in search of ideas before landing on Monti's ethereal veiled figures.

'I got inspired by "The Veiled Vestal." I was like, I want to become her,' she said. 'Raffaele Monti, he's done most of the sculptures from the 1800s. I looked and was like, "Wow this is so beautiful." The drape and it's all on marble, but how can you make that with fabric? I look hard, but I'm soft. It's foam and latex.'

The technical feat fell to special effects artist Mike Marino and his team at prosthetics company Prorenfx. In a separate post on Instagram, Klum praised Marino for 'transform[ing] fabric into sculpture, manipulating latex and spandex with extraordinary precision to mirror the stillness, delicacy and illusion of carved marble.' She described the result as 'a piece of fashion art, reimagined in motion.'

Klum admitted the effect came with a practical cost. 'It's a little warm. It's a little on the toasty side,' she joked, claiming it took only '20 minutes' to get ready — a line that feels more mischievous than literal given the level of engineering involved.

As photos of the Heidi Klum Met Gala costume began circulating, some viewers struggled to believe it was a physical outfit at all. The highly polished images, the smooth grey skin and the slightly surreal draping led to a flurry of posts questioning whether Klum's appearance had been faked.

A post shared by Heidi Klum (@heidiklum)

'Heidi Klum looking like AI in her outfit #MetGala,' one X user wrote, calling it 'one of the worst outfits of the night.' Others simply asked, 'What is this?' and speculated that the woman in the pictures might not be Klum, but an AI-generated likeness.

Source: International Business Times UK