Met Monday - JUS10H
Photographed by Scott Parker Photo
May 4, 2026 New York City
On the day of the Met Gala, designer Justin Haynes staged Met Monday: a shoot produced in the Garment District, with a wrap time before the start of the Gala. Met Monday is JUS10H answer to a question he identified from his position as Vice Chairman of the Tokyo Fashion Council: Japanese culture has shaped global fashion for decades and has rarely been centered on fashion's largest stage. These are the images from that day photographed in New York City by Scott Parker Photo.
Look 1 - The Gown
The fabric was painted by artist LESN101 before a single seam was cut. Expressionist marks in yellow, red, black, lavender, and coral; locked beneath mixed-scale sequins, seed pearls, and rhinestones. Pearl-encrusted mock neck. Long sleeves. A train that pools to the left. The makeup echoes the palette of the gown exactly. The face and the garment are one decision. Background is shifted slightly green to bring out the pink/magenta undertones and speak directly to the green and yellow accents.
Look Two — The Suit
The same process, a different palette. Charcoal and burgundy, dense and layered — closer to a city wall than a canvas. Double-breasted blazer with amber buttons, straight-leg trousers with raw-hemmed cuffs. Open the blazer and there is a white pleated tuxedo-bib shirt underneath, with a black cummerbund at the waist. This is not street art placed on a suit. It is a tuxedo that happens to be a painting. The background is shifted to tint the gray with a warm burgundy/magenta. This speaks directly to the deeper hues and more serious tone of this suit.
Harper's Bazaar Japan
So much happens between the shots. Lots of work goes on to make great images. I often like to document that work. Sometimes, someone on set will exclaim, “you HAVE to send me that shot!” At the end of the day, Justin asked for behind-the-scenes images. One frame, Justin crouched at the hem of the gown, adjusting the train, the model composed and still above him, was submitted to the Tokyo Fashion Council that evening. They placed it with Harper's Bazaar Japan. It was not composed for publication. It was made because a photographer was paying attention. That same attention to detail that Justin gives his clothes got the photo placed in Harper's Bazaar Japan the same day it was shot.
That is the content library in practice. A shoot properly executed can produce more than the scoped deliverables. It produces the frame you didn't know you needed.
About Met Monday
Met Monday is an ongoing project. Justin Haynes plans to expand it over the coming years to be a platform for honoring the cultural roots of global fashion, centered on the day that fashion's most visible event takes place. The 2026 shoot is the beginning. Editorial fashion photography at this level requires more than technical execution. It requires a photographer who understands what a designer is building — and plans the shoot accordingly.