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Last night’s Met Gala — with its “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” theme — was a study in crisp menswear looks, timeless monochromatism, trends like bodysuits and pinstripes, and many iterations of hats. One A-list attendee who mastered an elusive look courtesy of a leather fedora was Kim Kardashian, managing not to let the accessory detract from the ultimate conversation piece of her look: those sleek, sculpted waves.
Besides those dripping diamonds and leather textures, Kim Kardashian’s sculpted curls caught our eye at the 2025 Met Gala — shaped by her hair stylist Chris Appleton.
Variety via Getty Images
The Skims founder’s Chrome Hearts body-hugging gown might be inaccessible to those wanting to replicate her Met Gala look, but it’s totally possible to emulate Kardashian’s hair from the event. The star’s longtime hair stylist Chris Appleton used Shark Beauty‘s FlexFusion styling system for the red carpet, but not before prepping her hair with the Color Wow Dream Coat Supernatural Spray, which won a spot on WWD’s roundup of the greatest hair products of all time this year and gave Kardashian’s tresses a glossy, ultra-smooth, frizz-free foundation before any hair tool even touched them.
Shark FlexFusion 5-in-1 Air Styler Straightener + Brush Set
Editor testing and review notes: “This is the most souped-up wet-and-dry hair styler on the market, bar none. As someone with curly hair who likes to style it straight or with soft waves, I’m often whipping out hot tools in between wash days to add volume or tamp down frizz. This tool is a great multitasker for any day in my weekly hair stying schedule — and for that reason, an A-plus option to take on trips. I’ll use it as a classic hair dryer, attach the curling barrels for a bombshell wave moment, or click on the Wet or Dry Fusion Brush on the dry setting to add some lift to my curtain bangs between wash days. The trickiest thing about this tool is figuring out which configuration makes the most sense for your hair — if you’re in that boat, go with Shark’s Build Your Own option to customize the exact attachments you’d like.” — Contributing Beauty and Fashion Shopping Editor Claire Sullivan
Price upon publish date of this article: $399
Once that spray set in, Appleton rough-dried Kardashian’s hair with Shark Beauty’s Styling Concentrator and then moved on to the Wet or Dry Fusion Brush for added post-product smoothness. This kind of seamless versatility is at the heart of the FlexFusion multi-styler, which was released by the brand last October and has already earned a spot in hair styling tool history (along with being deemed one of the best Shark Beauty products our editors have tested). Ideal for wet-to-dry styling — though it also works just as well on already dry hair — the FlexFusion automatically calibrates heat and airflow settings after an attachment has been snapped on.
Kim Kardashian on May 5, 2025, at the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” Met Gala. Her glamorous curls, pictured here, were achieved with Shark Beauty’s FlexFusion multi-styler tool.
Courtesy Taylor Hill/Getty Images
Because regularly exposing your hair to heat can cause damage, it’s also equipped with a feature called Scalp Shield Mode that keeps temperature in check to protect hair follicles. As for the attachments available, there are four different options the tool takes, depending on if it comes with a straightener or if it’s made for curly hair (with an included diffuser). The Wet or Dry Fusion Brush used on Kardashian is one of six different accessories you can choose to add on to your Shark Beauty purchase. It serves a dual purpose of working as a hair dryer brush on wet hair or as a heated comb that adds volume and straightness to dry hair. Volume was as evident as ever when looking at Kardashian’s hair as she graced the Met Gala red carpet.
The reason for that? Shark Beauty’s 1.25-inch Auto-Wrap Curlers, which Appleton shaped her ringlets with. The curler attachments are crafted to attract strands and wrap them around the barrel using technology called the Coanda effect, which is also used in the Dyson Airwrap. Perfect for all hair types and textures, it creates curls in seconds, which stay put rather than going flat within hours. You can take advantage of the curlers, alongside the aforementioned attachments, by shopping the FlexFusion 5-in-1 Air Styler Set or you can customize your purchase a bit more by investing in the Shark Build Your Own styling system that lets you pick and choose accessories.
The latest Shark Beauty hair innovation, in the form of the Kim K–approved FlexFusion, already managed to attract quite the celebrity fan base since its October 2024 release. Gabrielle Union’s soft and delicate updo for the 2025 Vanity Fair Oscars Party, for example, was made possible thanks to Shark FlexFusion’s Styling Concentrator, Wide-Tooth Comb, and Auto-Wrap Curlers. The multi-styler also came in handy for Mikey Madison‘s award-winning Oscars look this year: one that was elegant, shiny, controlled, and made to last all night. It was also used by Sydney Sweeney’s hair stylist Glen Coco before the Academy Awards, making her golden hair flyaway- and frizz-free while infusing it with subtle bounce.
On TikTok as on red carpets, the do-it-all hair tool is consistently trending — raking up hundreds of thousands of views in videos that demonstrate its many handy applications, especially that of taking curly, wet hair and making it dry-plus-straight, while eliminating the need to buy multiple individual hair gadgets like a dryer, flat iron, hot brush, and beyond.
Ready to get hair results as head-turning as Kim Kardashian’s at the 2025 Met Gala? Shop these Shark hair tools, stat, which are trusted by the top hair stylists (not to mention WWD Shop’s editors!) and will soon become daily essentials you can’t live without.
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Shop Kim Kardashian’s Shark Beauty Hair Routine for the Met Gala
Shark FlexFusion 5-in-1 Air Styler Straightener + Brush Set
Price upon publish date of this article: $399
Shark FlexFusion 5-in-1 Air Styler Brush Set
Price upon publish date of this article: $349
Shark FlexFusion Styling Concentrator
Price upon publish date of this article: $32.99
Shark FlexFusion Wet or Dry Fusion Brush
Price upon publish date of this article: $54.99
Shark FlexFusion 1.25″ Auto-Wrap Curlers
Price upon publish date of this article: $32.99
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Meet the Author
Stacia Datskovska is a Senior Commerce Writer at WWD. Previously, she worked at ELLE DECOR as an assistant digital editor, covering all things luxury, culture, and lifestyle through a design lens. Her bylines over the past five years have appeared in USA Today, Baltimore Sun, Teen Vogue, Boston Globe, Food & Wine, and more. Prior to joining ELLE DECOR, Datskovska learned the ins and outs of e-commerce at Mashable, where she tested products, covered tentpole sales events, and curated gift guide roundups. She graduated from NYU with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and international relations. Datskovska regularly reports on celebrity red carpet style and trending hair tools.
