Fashion designer sued after allegedly ditching jeweler’s creations from Met Gala celebrity outfits

Fashion designer sued after allegedly ditching jeweler’s creations from Met Gala celebrity outfits Exclusive: ‘At least the judge and jury will get a chance to see’ Julian Polak’s designs, the celebrated jeweler’s attorney told The Independent - Bookmark Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Already a member? Log in A New York City jeweler is accusing celebrated fashion designer LaQuan Smith, whose creations have been worn by Rihanna, Beyoncé and Lady Gaga, among others, of promising to showcase his gems on the red carpet at last year’s Met Gala, then suddenly backing out of the agreement without explanation. Julian Polak of Maison Spoiled, a jewelry atelier with clients including Kate Hudson, Simone Biles and Dua Lipa, claims Smith’s team pitched him on a sponsorship deal. This would see three celebrities who Smith was dressing for the 2025 Met Gala wearing pieces by Polak during the event, according to a summons and notice filed Wednesday in state court and obtained by The Independent. Polak, 35, says he was led to believe that his jewelry would be showcased on the red carpet, at a Met Gala welcome dinner, and in press releases and interviews, along with Instagram posts by Smith himself, who would also accessorize his own look with Maison Spoiled pieces, contends the filing, a precursor to a formal lawsuit. It says Polak worked on an “extraordinarily compressed timeline” to produce “custom jewelry tailored to [LaQuan Smith's] garments, in certain instances dismantling finished pieces from its own inventory to source stones and components.” However, the filing goes on, “On the night of the Met Gala, the red-carpet placements [Polak] had contracted for and paid for went instead to [Smith’s] direct competitors,” which the media “covered extensively.” In addition, it alleges, the “promised press mentions and social media deliverables” Polak had been expecting also never materialized. Although the filing does not name the three stars dressed by Smith at the 2025 Met Gala, contemporaneous reports and photos showed they were actor Halle Berry, record producer Babyface Edmonds, and singer-songwriter-actress-model Ciara. Berry, according to Vogue, wore a LaQuan Smith dress, sans underwear, accessorized with nearly 35 carats of Cartier diamonds. The theme for the 2025 Met Gala was Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, which focused on the historical and cultural impact of Black dandyism. It was curated by Monica Miller, the Claire Tow Professor of Africana Studies at Barnard College, and Andrew Bolton, the head curator of the Anna Wintour Costume Center at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was the Costume Institute’s first all-menswear exhibition in nearly a quarter-century. Polak’s attorney, Robert Hantman, told The Independent, “While our client was disappointed that the jewelry was not shown at the gala, we’re confident that at least the judge and jury will get a chance to see the sensational designs.” A spokeswoman for Smith, 38, did not respond to a request for comment. Smith, according to his marketing materials, was “rebuffed” by the New York fashion establishment, then “forged ahead regardless – building his luxury womenswear brand his own way.” “Now his 15 years of hard work are paying off, as the self-taught designer from Queens watches his growing empire hit towering heights,” Smith’s website tells visitors. He has since been featured in the Business of Fashion 500, which pointed to collaborations with Asos and Puma, as well as his collections being sold by Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue, as proof that his “days as an industry outsider are long over.” In 2022, the Council of Fashion Designers of America nominated Smith for American Womenswear Designer of the Year, which he lost to Catherine Holstein of KHAITE. The New York City-born Polak comes from five generations of diamontaires and says he “perfected the techniques from the masters.” “My deep obsession for jewelry is in my DNA,” his website states. “Born into a diamond family, I find the beauty in every element that goes into crafting the perfect piece.” On February 19, 2025, Smith’s brand director sent Maison Spoiled a written pitch about sponsoring the company’s 2025 Met Gala programming, according to the summons and notice filed in New York State Supreme Court. It says Polak “agreed to the highest tier,” a $37,500 commitment, which “expressly promised, among other deliverables, that all three of designer LaQuan Smith’s Met Gala guests would be dressed in Maison Spoiled jewelry on the Met Gala red carpet, together with a LaQuan Smith carpet moment, a Met Welcome Dinner on-site activation, inclusion in press releases and interviews, social media posts by @laquan_smith, [and] logo inclusion on event invitations,” plus a featured spot in a pop-up event Smith put on at the Park Lane Hotel. The agreement called for a collaboration between Polak and Smith to create custom jewelry designed specifically for each garment, the filing states. It says Polak worked quickly to accomodate Smith’s schedule, and on April 15, 2025, sent individualized presentation decks to Smith and “the intended talent,” and offered to loan certain other pieces “exclusively for the red-carpet moment.” Two weeks later, Polak brought $7 million worth of jewelry to a fitting at Smith’s studio, and $10 million of jewelry the next day, according to the filing. He additionally hired an outside PR firm to promote his participation in the upcoming Met Gala, and “incurred substantial additional costs in staff time, transportation, and logistics,” the filing states. However, the partnership apparently got off to a shaky start. The filing says Polak repeatedly asked Smith for design direction, measurements, and lookbooks, but that the requests went unanswered. On May 2, 2025, three days before the Met Gala, Polak says he received an email from Smith’s team with a subject line reading: “Jewelry updates.” It said that the three red-carpet placements would not be happening – that one guest had “a competing jewelry arrangement and would wear only that brand on the carpet,” that a second guest would only commit to wearing Maison Spoiled jewelry to an afterparty, and that “only one guest remained committed to wearing Maison Spoiled.” Smith said there was nothing he could do about it, and a day later, his brand director apologized to Polak in an email, according to the court filing. In the end, it continues, Polak’s jewelry “appeared nowhere on the red carpet and in none of the resulting coverage.” The filing additionally claims that Smith failed to honor the remaining deliverables, saying that “guest looks” for the welcome dinner only appeared “hours before the event,” that the Park Lane Hotel pop-up integration “was never confirmed or provided,” and that none of the press mentions or social media posts ever happened. The summons and notice state that Smith knew all along its celebrities had other jewelry deals that made the promised red-carpet placement impossible. This allegedly left Polak’s company completely in the dark and unable to protect itself, move its inventory, or find another way to promote its brand. Polak is claiming breach of contract; breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing; and unjust enrichment. He is seeking repayment of his $37,500 sponsorship fee, a minimum of $100,000 for inventory he modified into custom pieces for Smith’s clients to wear at the Met Gala, plus $7,000 in public relations fees. Polak is also demanding the “lost value of media attention and additional consequential damages, including substantial staff time, transportation, and logistics costs, lost business opportunity, and reputational harm arising from [his] forced withdrawal from an event it had promoted to its most significant private clients.” A court date has not yet been set.