In Defense of Hudson Williams’s ‘Messy’ Met Gala Makeup

The discourse over Hudson Williams’s Met Gala makeup is precisely what makes it so on-theme.

On May 4 the actor’s go-to hairstylist and makeup artist Aika Flores stepped outside her minimalist aesthetic for this year’s dress code, “Fashion Is Art”, crafting an asymmetrical makeup look inspired by one of Williams’s favorite films, Black Swan. “It traces the evolution of the white swan, shedding its softness to emerge sharper, more elusive and entirely reborn,” Flores told beauty journalist Kristina Rodulfo of the look. “Look closely at the makeup, and it reveals a progression from purity to power the precise instant the white swan yields and the Black Swan takes flight.”

Some critics who looked closely just saw a “mess,” claiming the look’s smudgy asymmetry did not feel “intentional,” while others insisted naysayers just didn’t get it. On TikTok, threads, and X.com, makeup artists with varying opinions clamored to share how they would have achieved the look, with some using their own techniques and personal touches to recreate or reimagine the beauty moment.

Days after the intense discourse erupted on social media, Emmy-winning Euphoria makeup artist Donni Davy applauded the look on Instagram. “I love this look,” Davy wrote. “It’s expressive, thought provoking, playful, has a story, and goes against the grain of what pop culture tends to value in makeup (sameness, technical precision). When I see this look, I don’t wish it was more blended or crisp. I love the chaos, and so hope Aika Flores does a series of looks like this.”

Davis’s words reminded me of another time an artist went “against the grain of what pop culture tends to value.” At a time when precise Neoclassicism still ruled the French art scene, Claude Monet’s 1874 exhibit, Impression, Sunrise was ruthlessly mocked by art critic Louis Leroy, who wrote that “wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished than that seascape.” Little did he know, the sarcastic headline of his review, The Exhibition of the Impressionists, would inspire the term for a massive art movement he deemed messy and unfinished.

Am I saying Flores should abandon the “heartthrob glow” to pursue a more editorial career? Frankly, I doubt that’s her intention, though there’s no reason she should be forced into a single box.

In her original response to the criticism on Threads, Flores wrote that she’s taking in the “positive & negative” feedback with “grace & gratitude” while encouraging her followers to lead with kindness.