Effervescent Eileen Gu bursts onto Met Gala 2026 red carpet in dress made of 15K glass bubbles 

She looked adore-bubble. 

Olympic freestyle skier Eileen Gu put an effervescent spin on the 2026 Met Gala theme of “Costume Art.”

The 22-year-old model — who nabbed two silvers and a gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics in February — wore a stunning short bubble dress by Iris van Herpen, a Dutch designer known for unique “tech-couture” looks that blend high fashion with innovative technology, on the red carpet Monday.

“I have 15,000 glass bubbles on me,” Gu told ESPNW of the distinct dress. “It took 2,550 hours to make. There’s technology under the dress that enables reality to kind of come together with art. It’s a play on surrealism, it’s a play on movement, it’s a play on nature, on fun, on whimsy.”

She also wore see-through heels and, aside from a small pair of earrings partially concealed by her chic, messy updo, her only accessories were dozens of bubbles floating up into the air around her. 

When asked why sports are art by ESPNW, the veteran athlete simply replied, “It’s about self-expression. It’s about breaking boundaries and about being the truest version of yourself.

Gu first attended the Met Gala in 2021, sporting a romantic short black-and-white Carolina Herrera bubble dress with black heels and a bold red lip. The following year, she took an edgier turn in a strapless leather Louis Vuitton mini dress with a plunging neckline, metal belt and high black leather boots. 

Despite being in her early 20s, Gu is the most decorated free skier of all time, securing six medals in six events at the 2022 and 2026 Winter Olympics. 

Off the trails, however, Gu has repeatedly been under fire for representing her mother’s native China at the Olympics, despite growing up in Northern California and majoring in international relations at Stanford University. 

Earlier this year, she said she was “physically assaulted,” robbed and received death threats on campus.

The multi-faceted model is signed IMG and has appeared in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2025 issue, represented Louis Vuitton, Victoria’s Secret and Fendi, and graced the covers of the Chinese editions of Cosmopolitan and Vogue.