The real MVP of the 2025 Met Gala was the daffodil-dappled, midnight blue rug that was unspooled like a painter’s canvas on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Designed by artist Cy Gavin, the carpet bloomed with daffodils—an intentional nod to the season’s spirit of renewal. The motif, drawn from the spring flowers outside his upstate New York studio, felt especially apt for fashion’s biggest night, which traditionally marks the start of a new style season. As Gavin told Vogue, the daffodil’s symbolism of new beginnings echoed the Met Gala’s dual role: ushering in the trends of tomorrow while honoring the craftsmanship of the past.
In the context of this year’s theme, Tailored For You, and the Costume Institute’s exhibition Superfine: Tailoring Black Style—which explores the legacy of Black dandyism—Gavin told Vogue that the daffodil’s scientific name, Narcissus, carried deeper relevance. The flower is named after the mythological youth who falls in love with his own reflection and, in some versions of the story, is transformed into a flower by the gods.
“I became interested in that moment of self-recognition and appreciation,” Gavin told Vogue. “It’s very easy to not see yourself clearly because of all the selves that other people tell us we are—and I was struck by the poignancy of that being also a sort of punishment.”
Just inside the front doors of the Metropolitan Museum of Art during the 2025 Met Gala, the museum has been turned into a mystical night sky with thousands of lifelike daffodils that seemingly transcend into stars.
Set designer Derek McLane and longtime Met Gala planner Raúl Àvila brought Gavin’s vision to life even further with thousands of live daffodils lining each side of the carpet that covered the stairs of the Met. The motif continued in the Great Hall, where 7,000 flowers were suspended in a monumental centerpiece.
Gavin’s carpet motif was also translated into a painting, Untitled (Sky), where the narcissus blooms appear as stars scattered across a night sky. The artwork was projected onto the ceiling of the Temple of Dendur, merging with thousands of daffodils that rise out of a central well to be reflected back on two pools.
Models walk on Catherine Martin’s floral carpet for the Womenswear Ready-to-Wear Fall-Winter 2025/2026 collection as part of the Milan Fashion Week in Milan on February 27, 2025.
If you’re wondering if you’ve seen this carpet motif before, you’re not wrong. Sharp-eyed fashion watchers may have noticed that the Met Gala carpet bore more than a passing resemblance to the floral carpet from Prada’s Fall/Winter 2025 runway, designed by Australian designer Catherine Martin. At Prada, daffodils spilled across the floor like a golden tide, grounding the collection’s tailored silhouettes in something soft, romantic, and deeply symbolic. The Met’s version felt like a natural extension—less cinematic, more contemplative, but equally attuned to the cultural moment.
The Met Gala’s grand daffodil moment might signal a broader moment for this cheery bloom. While we spotted it everywhere—from the runways to the streets—in 2020; earlier this year, butter yellow really burst out of the framework as a color of choice in interiors. We’re calling it, the daffodil is back.
Rachel Silva is the associate digital editor at ELLE DECOR, where she covers all things design, architecture, and lifestyle. She also oversees the publication’s feature article coverage, and is, at any moment, knee-deep in an investigation on everything from the best spa gifts to the best faux florals on the internet right now. She has more than 16 years of experience in editorial, working as a photo assignment editor at Time and acting as the president of Women in Media in NYC. She went to Columbia Journalism School, and her work has been nominated for awards from ASME, the Society of Publication Designers, and World Press Photo.
