The $10 Hair Accessory Trend Was All Over the Met Gala

Just the other day I decided I desperately wanted to own a piece from the iconic 1998 Dolce & Gabbana Stromboli collection. The dresses famously featured long, sheer dresses with corseted tops covered in butterfly appliques. I’m convinced wearing one of the dresses, worn by supermodels like Kate Moss, will make me feel like an ethereal fairy sitting in a garden, and I’ve decided I can’t rest until I somehow find one for a reasonable price on eBay. But then I saw Olivia Rodrigo’s Met Gala beauty look and am convinced there’s something I can do now to emulate the look I love without paying upward of $1,500 — and that’s wearing butterflies in my hair. 

For the first Monday in May, Rodrigo wore a sparkling lavender Versace gown with sheer purple gloves, platform sandals, De Beers jewelry, and butterflies pinned to her signature long mane. Personally, the dress, while gorgeous, felt subtle for the Gilded Glamour theme of the evening, but the butterflies in her hair are something that scratched an itch in my brain. Now, all I can think about is what it would be like to walk down the street, run my fingers through my hair, and feel the wing of a butterfly hair clip pinned to the side. That level of dreamy is what I aspire to be, even if I’m just walking to the corner bodega. 

Similarly, Kaia Gerber’s semi-sheer Alexander McQueen look would have felt totally incomplete without her beaded barrettes. They were key in taking her voluminous hair from looking like something out of the ’70s to some goddess level that rivals that of the Greek statues in the Met. Maude Apatow channeled Old Hollywood energy in a black, sheer Miu Miu gown and a layered Cartier necklace. Naturally, her hair featured gelled-back curls and a stunning crystal Cartier hair pin in the shape of a flower. As Emma Chamberlain said in her Vogue interview, it was giving Betty Boop in the best way. Was Betty Boop around in the Gilded Age? No, but for Apatow’s incredible hair piece, we’ll let this one slide. 

Without hair pieces, these three looks would have felt incomplete, and they no doubt added just the right amount of Glamour for an evening chock full of it — but in desperate need of so much more. Hair accessories, whether it be the famous ’90s butterfly clips, a set of crystal hair pins, or pearl flower barrettes, have that kind of power to take a look up a notch instantly and are the perfect way to add some easy glam to an everyday look.

Thankfully, they couldn’t be more on-trend, and much like the Blake Lively-approved $10 long glove trend, you don’t need an invite to a Gala to wear a pair of clips in your hair — especially when they cost as little as $10 on Amazon. And speaking from first-hand experience, they can easily channel the iconic energy of so many incredible runway looks, which is exactly why I have every single kind of butterfly clip currently sitting in my cart. Kate Moss, who? 

Shop the hair accessories trend that was all over the Met Gala, below.