By the time Mona Patel stepped onto the Met Gala red carpet, flanked by a robotic dog and draped in Thom Browne’s architectural tailoring, the world paused - scrolling, zooming in, and taking screenshots for inspiration. Her look was among the night’s most discussed. Not simply for its scale or spectacle, but because it told a story. One of fashion as futurism, engineering as elegance and of precision as performance.
Behind the scenes, London-based stylist Ahmad Alek had spent months helping craft the vision. But, as he explains to MOJEH, the vision wasn’t his to shape. That had already been decided.
“With Mona, the process is the inverse of most,” Alek says. “She arrives with a deeply considered, fully developed concept - one that usually surpasses what many stylists might see halfway through a project. My role isn’t to define the vision. It’s to deliver it, without compromise.”
Patel, a tech entrepreneur and relative newcomer to the Met’s hallowed steps, became an unlikely breakout star, largely because her look wasn’t chasing relevance; it was asserting its own orbit. Her ensemble - robotic spine, embroidered suit, kinetic hat, and yes, a functioning robot dog named Vector - was equal parts couture and performance art.
“Fashion, for her, isn’t frivolous,” Alek says. “It’s treated with the same structure and symbolism you’d expect from a film director or architect. Every reference is there for a reason.”
The Met Gala as a Production
Alek, who has previously worked across editorial and celebrity styling, likens the Met Gala to staging a production rather than dressing a red carpet. The timelines are punishing. The craftsmanship, intricate. The stakes, sky-high.
“You’re not just thinking: does this photograph well?” he explains. “You’re thinking: will it function? Will it withstand the elements? Will the mechanics hold? There’s a whole ecosystem behind that walk up the stairs.”
On the day of the event, Manhattan was drenched in rain. Not ideal when working with robotics and embroidered textiles.
“It was a logistical nightmare,” Alek recalls. “We had to keep the look dry before even getting to the van. Then there were paparazzi crowding the entrance, and a sudden flood of fans outside the hotel for a visiting Bollywood star. We were literally shielding Mona and her dog just to get through.” It’s the sort of chaos that never makes it to Instagram. But as Alek points out, those are the moments that define whether the months of work materialise - or unravel.
Collaboration at the Highest Level
Styling for The Met isn’t a solo act. It’s a carefully conducted collaboration, where stylists often serve as both curator and crisis manager. In Patel’s case, the team included Browne’s atelier, engineers, hairstylists, makeup artists, and logistical support.
“Everything is planned to the hour,” Alek says. “But the beauty is in the final, spontaneous details, especially when it comes to beauty. A last-minute choice of lip colour, a hair adjustment, an accessory rethink - those can shift the entire mood.”
Accessories, in this context, are not ornamental. They’re narrative devices. “With a look this considered, restraint is often more powerful than abundance. The accessories weren’t there to impress - they were there to serve the story.”
A Different Kind of Client
The Met Gala often reveals a stylist’s ability to distill a client’s personality into a look. But Patel, Alek notes, resists being distilled.
“There’s no ‘make her look like this’ moment. Mona has a vivid, self-directed aesthetic. She isn’t outsourcing her identity. My work becomes about execution, not invention.” That clarity, he adds, is rare. And it makes the process more exacting but, more rewarding.
The Aftermath
After the event, in the quiet hum of hotel suites and decompression, stylists often exhale for the first time in weeks. For Alek, the night brought a surprising moment of reflection.
“I got a message from a high school friend saying, ‘You used to talk about this back then and you’ve actually done it.’ It felt like a full-circle moment,” he tells MOJEH. “The Met Gala is spectacle, yes. But for those of us behind the curtain, it’s something more. It’s the culmination of every unseen hour.”
And perhaps that’s the truth behind fashion’s most theatrical night: beneath the glitter and flash lies something deeply human - ambition, belief, and the quiet craftsmanship that holds it all together.
