Zayn Malik took inspiration from ‘Mortal Kombat’ for his Met Gala outfit.
The 23-year-old singer wore a suit with metal arms to the fashion event, which had the theme ‘Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology’, and Zayn admitted he was inspired by physically-imposing US Special Forces operative Jax from the video game when he helped to design his Versace outfit.
He told Dazed magazine: "I was asked to design my own costume by Donatella Versace! It was cool. I had seen a few people hitting me online, saying negative things about it. But I enjoyed it because they were saying I looked like a dude from ‘Mortal Kombat’, and it was actually based on a character called Jax. He had metal arms, and the theme was technology, so I just took it from him… It’s a bit easy to just dress up in a suit. I like to do things that are a bit outside of that."
Zayn – who attended the Met Gala with his girlfriend Gigi Hadid – insisted he was "being fearless" like his style icon Prince and loved having the chance to experiment with his style choices.
He said: "I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I know it’s a big deal in the fashion industry. Anna Wintour obviously runs the whole thing so it was an honour to even get to go.
"A lot of starting references for me are technology and Prince. I’m conscious in the back of my head, of how he was sort of bold and fearless in the way he decided to dress. He created another world with the clothes he wore, and it gave him an otherworldly feel. That was kind of what I was doing at the Met Ball… being fearless. But I was just having fun."
Zayn Malik’s Met Gala outfit inspired by Mortal Kombat
