Here Are Our Favorite Met Gala Looks of All Time
The Met Gala 2024 is on the books.
This year, the theme for the most exclusive event in fashion and culture was “The Garden of Time.” Alongside Anna Wintour, the co-chairs for the 2024 Met Gala on Monday (May 6) were Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya and Chris Hemsworth.
The annual fundraiser for the museum’s Costume Institute is accompanied this year by an exhibit titled “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” which includes 50-some pieces from the Met’s permanent collection that are too fragile to ever be worn again.
The 2024 Met Gala theme, “The Garden of Time,” was inspired by a short story by English writer J. G. Ballard about a couple living in opulence as a ragtag horde approaches their residence; the husband picks “time flowers” from a dying crystal garden to slow the throng’s inevitable advance (draw your own conclusions about how that theme connects to an evening celebrating conspicuous wealth held by a select few).
Last year, the Met Gala theme was “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty,” a love letter to the late, great fashion icon behind Chanel, Fendi and his own eponymous fashion house. Stars such as Rihanna, Dua Lipa, Ice Spice, Billie Eilish and Cardi B walked the red carpet, followed by a performance from Lizzo.
Each year, the Met Gala gives the brightest stars a chance to shine on the museum’s red carpet in looks that have ranged from iconically campy (see Lady Gaga’s grand entrance in four separate looks for 2019’s “Camp: Notes on Fashion”) and positively reverential (2018’s “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination”) to all things avant garde and haute couture (basically every time Rihanna shuts down the carpet — most memorably in the hand-constructed yellow gown she wore for 2015’s “China: Through the Looking Glass”).
Click through Billboard’s gallery of some of the best Met Gala looks over the years below.
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Beyonce
Beyonce attends the “China: Through The Looking Glass” Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 4, 2015 in New York City.
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Zendaya
Zendaya at the 2024 Met Gala: “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2024 in New York City.
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Rihanna
Rihanna attends the ‘China: Through The Looking Glass’ Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 4, 2015 in New York City.
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Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez attends “China: Through the Looking Glass”, the 2015 Costume Institute Gala, at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 4, 2015 in New York City.
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Billie Eilish
Billie Eilish attends the 2021 Met Gala celebrating ‘In America: A Lexicon of Fashion’ at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on September 13, 2021 in New York City.
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Lana Del Rey
Lana Del Rey attends The 2024 Met Gala Celebrating “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 06, 2024 in New York City.
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Kim Kardashian and Kanye West
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West attend the ‘Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology’ Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 2, 2016 in New York City.
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Cardi B
Cardi B attends the “Camp: Notes on Fashion” Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2019 in New York City.
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Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande attends The 2024 Met Gala Celebrating “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 06, 2024 in New York City.
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Travis Scott & Kylie Jenner
Travis Scott and Kylie Jenner attend the “Camp: Notes on Fashion” Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2019 in New York City.
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Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift attends the ‘Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology’ Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 2, 2016 in New York City.
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Madonna
Madonna attends the ‘Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology’ Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 2, 2016 in New York City.
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Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid
Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid attend the “Manus x Machina: Fashion In An Age Of Technology” Costume Institute Gala at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 2, 2016 in New York City.
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Katy Perry
Katy Perry attends the “Camp: Notes on Fashion” Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2019 in New York City.
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Rihanna
Rihanna attends the Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination Costume Institute Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 7, 2018 in New York City.
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Cardi B
Cardi B attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 02, 2022 in New York City.
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Harry Styles
Harry Styles attends The 2019 Met Gala Celebrating Camp: Notes on Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2019 in New York City.
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Jared Leto
Jared Leto attends The 2019 Met Gala Celebrating Camp: Notes on Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2019 in New York City.
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Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga attends The 2019 Met Gala Celebrating Camp: Notes on Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2019 in New York City.
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Zendaya
Zendaya attends the “Camp: Notes on Fashion” Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2019 in New York City.
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Priyanka Chopra & Nick Jonas
Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas attend the “Camp: Notes on Fashion” Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2019 in New York City.
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Lana Del Rey
Lana Del Rey attends the “Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations” Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 7, 2012 in New York City.
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Celine Dion
Celine Dion attends the “Camp: Notes on Fashion” Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2019 in New York City.
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Kacey Musgraves
Kacey Musgraves attends the “Camp: Notes on Fashion” Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2019 in New York City.
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Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez attends the “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 7, 2018 in New York City.
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Dua Lipa
Dua Lipa attends the “Camp: Notes on Fashion” Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2019 in New York City.
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Diddy
Diddy attends the “Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between” Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1, 2017 in New York City.
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Ciara
Ciara attends the “Camp: Notes on Fashion” Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2019 in New York City.
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Billy Porter
Billy Porter attends the “Camp: Notes on Fashion” Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2019 in New York City.
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Katy Perry
Katy Perry attends the Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination Costume Institute Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 7, 2018 in New York City.