On Monday night at the Met Gala, Michelle Williams debuted a pink pixie cut — and proved she is perhaps the closest thing we’ll ever get to a real-life pixie incarnate.

The Costume Institute’s spring 2024 exhibit, ‘Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,’ felt like the perfect sartorial inspiration for the Greatest Showman star, who almost always looks like an airy angel on the red carpet. For the occasion, Williams wore Chanel, as she often does. Ahead of getting ready for the evening, she told me over the phone: “My dress for the night is like a sister dress to my last Chanel dress. Spiritually, they’re connected, I feel!”

Her look was a strapless white organza dress, fully embroidered with sequinned floral motifs, and a long coat in white tulle embellished with an embroidered braid. It was, to be specific, look 56 from the Chanel spring/summer 2024 collection, worn with Chanel shoes and High Jewellery. The dress took over 1,072 hours to complete, and more than 113,000 embroidered elements went into its creation, due to all the floral motifs made up of white beads and sequins. “A lot of work went into this dress,” Williams said, “and wearing it is wearing art.”

The Golden Globe and Emmy winner said the process of picking out the dress itself was easy. “When you have the dress in front of you — to be honest — it’s already perfect!” she said. “And so then the collaboration really is how the hair and the make-up and the nails are going to come together. How are those going to sort of complete the story of this stunning dress? How are we going to complement what the dress already has going for it?”

To add to the piece’s ethereal vibe, Williams adorned her new pink hair with jewels, which she admitted was what she was most excited about. “That’s one of the finishing touches,” she said. “And I’m really looking forward to that sensation.”

Despite having attended the Met Gala a handful of times — most recently in 2018, for the “Heavenly Bodies” exhibit — the five-time Oscar nominee said each time still feels like the first. “I still feel full of excited anticipation — with a healthy dose of nervousness — but also in each of these moments, gratitude,” she said. “I feel lucky that my work has allowed me to have these experiences.”

Williams also still can’t believe she gets to work with a house like Chanel so consistently. “Even just looking at the logo this morning — it’s amazing to find myself in a place where my life intersects with this brand. It is moving to be able to wear something like I get to wear tonight,” she said. But she went on to describe how Chanel is also as much a part of her everyday as anything else: “When I put on my [Chanel] ballet flats and jacket, I feel fully dressed.”

“Theres nothing that feels,” she concluded, “quite like wearing Chanel.”