How To Get Sydney Sweeney’s Old Hollywood 2025 Met Gala Hairstyle

Each year, the Met Gala is an opportunity for celebs to share their best glam of the year — a time for innovation, creativity, and a whole lot of hair tools.

This year, Sydney Sweeney embodied the evening’s dandyism theme by way of a shimmering Miu Miu gown, delicate makeup, and an elegant updo featuring two kiss curls — the latter of which emerged as a major trend of the night. Ahead, her hairstylist reveals exclusive details on how he got it done.

Sydney Sweeney’s Met Gala Hair

Stepping out wearing a sophisticated, high-shine bun adorned with glossy finger waves that curled like calligraphy across her forehead, Sweeney left her mark on this year’s festivities.

Celebrity hairstylist Glen Oropeza wanted to bring the finger wave into 2025. “I knew I wanted a clean simple bun, but also wanted to elevate it with an aspect of design in the front,” he tells Bustle. “I went with what I call a ‘finger swirl’ for an element of interest around the face.”

Of course, fans may remember Sweeney showed up with a dramatically different hairdo at last year’s Met Gala — a blunt black bob with micro bangs — and Oropeza says he wanted to make sure this night featured something equally unique. “Every year I like to make sure it’s dramatically different than the year before,” he says. “This time, we wanted her to feel beautiful and allow the dress and hair to shine.”

Creating The Updo

Creating Sweeney’s intricate updo required intense prep and styling.

“I first went in and sprayed the hair with the Kérastase Genesis Défense Thermique on damp hair,” Oropeza tells Bustle. “It helps protect and prime the strands before any heat styling.”

To keep her hair smooth and frizz-free, he layered in a few drops of Kérastase Gloss Drops before blow-drying. “That step makes all the difference when it comes to creating that sleek, almost liquid finish,” he says. Then, using the Wavytalk Turblow Pro Fast Drying Hair Dryer, Oropeza worked in sections to blow out her hair, clipping each part back to set the formation of the ponytail. Once dry, he began sculpting the sleek base.

“I go in with my smoothing brush and Kérastase Laque Extrême Hold Hairspray, taking it section by section to slick the hair into formation,” he says.

To further elevate the look, Oropeza added a soft-yet-structured face-framing detail: “I left out a few pieces in the front of the head to create finger swirls using my tail comb and hairspray,” he adds.

With the sleek ponytail in place, he then smoothed and polished it using the Wavytalk Steamline Pro, then moved on to the bun. “I used the Kérastase Gloss Drops throughout the hair again to condense it before forming it into shape,” he notes.

Once the bun was pinned into place, Oropeza finished the look with a final mist of Kérastase Laque Extrême and locked it in with a diffuser attachment on the Wavytalk Turblow Pro.

The result? A style that read as timeless and ethereal from the front, with a sharply refined, high-gloss bun in the back — undoubtedly one of the evening’s most elegant and precise hair moments.