Josephine Baker-Style Curls, with Structured Tailoring, on the Met Gala Carpet

There were slicked-down curls, dramatic swoops and sculpted waves that contrasted with the structured, tailored clothes of the evening.

Many of the hair styles appeared to be nods to Josephine Baker, the American-born French singer whose hair was typically gelled down into face-framing kiss curls. In an interview on the Met Gala carpet, Quinta Brunson, who opted for a pinstripe dress and blazer with a swoop that took up most of her forehead, said she was heavily inspired by the Jazz Age performer and World War II resistance fighter.

The singer Coco Jones, dressed in an ivory suit by the Indian designer Manish Malhotra, was among the first of the night to turn up with a singular, snaking kiss curl lacquered to her forehead. Sydney Sweeney paired a form-fitting Black Miu Miu dress with a slicked-back bun and loop-dee-loop bang.

Cole Escola, among the more colorfully dressed guests of the evening, seemed to pay homage to the style as well, sporting hair gathered into a single, glossy wave.

Dua Lipa finished her flapper-esque feathered and jeweled Chanel outfit with four swoops snaking from a bun down to her forehead and temples. Curls peeked out of a large feathered hat worn by Teyana Taylor, who co-hosted Vogue’s livestream in a custom Ruth E. Carter suit and cape.

Men, apparently, also got the memo. Bad Bunny’s swoop poked out from under his wicker boat hat. A single strand of hair appeared to be sprung deliberately loose from the actor Henry Golding’s well-coiffed head.

It’s not the first time the look has been more widely adopted in the fashion world and in red carpet dressing. The hair style appeared to inspire, for instance, the spring 2017 Givenchy show, for which the hairstylist Guido Palau gelled down the hair of models like Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid to achieve a “sculptural” effect.

Some of the hair styles that appeared on the Met Gala carpet Monday night toed the line between curls and Marcel waves, which have caught on in the last few years among stars like Rihanna, Halle Berry and Zendaya. That style was popularized in the 19th century by the Parisian hairdresser Francois Marcel Grateau, who achieved the look with hot curling tongs.

As The New York Times reported in 2023 of the resurgent trend, the soft-yet-slick style can “take an edge off some of the more aggressively tailored looks on the runways this year.”