A Moment Frozen in Time: Camila Cabello’s Ice Purse Takes the Met Gala by Storm
Camila Cabello’s daring look at the 2024 Met Gala, during which outrageous ensembles compete for attention, was an outlandish outfit, but not in the manner she usually wears. Cabello unveiled an accessory unlike any other – a handcrafted ice clutch cradling a single copper rose. It wasn’t just a purse; it was a conversation piece, a shimmering sculpture that melted in real-time.
Camila Cabello’s ICE purse for the Met Gala was handcrafted and took 85 hours to make and worth $22.5K.
— It features water from the NEVAS in Germany and a handmade rose with pure lines in 18k rose gold, adorned with perfectly cut diamonds of 0.50 carats each. PIC.TWITTER.COM/ALDJCJSKAJ
— ⭑ (@popgirlmiami) MAY 7, 2024
The Met Gala, hosted in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s sanctified corridors, is a spectacle of high fashion. This year’s look, The Garden of Time in tandem with the sub-theme, Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, dared visitors to stretch the boundaries of their comfort zones. While many attendees wore ballgowns and dramatic suits, Cabello took the metaphor of impermanence central to the theme and transformed it into an artwork.
Incredibly, the last second of the ice lock was not a random impulse — it arose from the theme itself. At first, Cabello decided to create a conventional purse, but the straps accidentally opened, forcing him to change the idea. This accident became the soul of the design – fleeting, evanescent, barely perceptible — highlighting themes, like the fragility of beauty, wasted time, and other ideas similar to the awakening of “Sleeping Beauties.”
But for such an icy masterpiece to come to life, the most talented artisans had to spend 85 hours each. The basis for the creation of the purse was crystal clear ice, and the beauty – a rose – was placed inside. But it was not just an ordinary, withered flower, it was an exquisite sculpture made of 18k rose gold with diamond petals. Each of them weighed half a carat and shone with an inner light. The Dutch Rose was certain to fascinate the owner of the Frost purse.
Cabello sliding on the red carpet with the ice purse in the spotlight at the Met Gala was a beautiful sight to see and yet fleeting. More than an accessory, the ice purse was a work of art and a portal–a reminder of their work dialogue-alluding and short-lived innovations. More than just a famous personality and a garment, the event was a statement about the transformative essence of beauty.
Among thousands of sequined gowns and feathered ensembles, Cabello’s ice clutch shone with an untold story of ingenuity and bravado. It was no longer a matter of money, even though swiping the event with an estimated $22,500 price tag was audacious enough. It was irrelevant to the designer: she was in it to buck traditions and accept the fleeting life of art and style. As the night wore on, it became evident, however, that Cabello’s try would be more than just a one-time attempt, and that it would permanently deserve a special place in Met Gala’s book.
