The most likable aspect of Grimes has always been how she makes her nerdiest dreams come true. As the latest evidence, look no further than her Met Gala look, which was inspired by Dune and included a sword made out of fermented (?) guns.
The Canadian pop artist spoke to Vogue about the inspirations behind her outfit, and dropped the tidbit about fermented guns to ET. It’s not clear what she means by the guns being fermented; fermentation is an organic process that gives us beer, yeasted breads, chocolate, and more, and usually refers to microorganisms causing a desirable change in food or liquid. Some metal-eating bacterias exist, though the crusty byproduct would make for poor weaponry. Perhaps her partner Elon Musk found something in his preparations for colonizing Mars?
Grimes added that, “It’s not a prop sword, I tried to pick it up and this is not really a one-handed situation.” She said it’s “based on a western European sword from the end of the Middle Ages around 1400,” which is “a permanent piece of the Met’s collection, and the sword is also cast from a Colt AR-15A3. It’s from these people who are getting people’s [guns] who don’t want to have their automatic rifles anymore, and are melting them down and making them perfect replicas of medieval swords, which I think is just so cool — I think it’s a beautiful thing.”
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As for Grimes’ Met Gala mask, that was an attempt to meet this year’s theme, “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.” How it meets that brief took a bit of explaining, but as Grimes said, “It’s kind of inspired by the movie Dune, which is an American film.” Wait, really? “Americans worked on it so it sort of fits the theme.”
As it turned out, Grimes had actually been negotiating a deal where the producers of Dune would “hire me as a professional fan, or like, an influencer or something.” Those negotiations stalled, but the outfit was already in the works, which is why the final product is more accurately described as, “Dune-esque.”
Still, she’s pleased with how it came out. “I think this is my favorite look ever,” she said. “I feel sick.”
Grimes is currently working on her next album, which she has described as “space opera” about a lesbian AI romance. Over the summer she teased the new songs “Tragedy” and “Shinigami Eyes,” and this fall she’ll judge a new avatar singing competition. As for Dune, it drops October 22nd, and you can revisit the latest trailer now.
