The Met Gala has given us 50-plus years of fashion completely off the leash – color-changing gowns, severed-head accessories, a literal chandelier, and one woman in a $4.8 million piece of American history. These are the 20 looks that earned their place in the hall of fame, ranked.
1. Rihanna in Guo Pei, 2015
The single most legendary look to ever touch the Met steps, and it’s not close. For “China: Through the Looking Glass,” Rihanna arrived last, after the carpet had nearly cleared, in a custom canary-yellow Guo Pei gown with an enormous fur-trimmed cape and an embroidered train so vast it needed multiple handlers to manage.
Embed from Getty ImagesIt took the Beijing couturier two years to make. The internet’s “omelette” and “pizza” jokes wrote themselves – and somehow that only made it more iconic, because the dress was strong enough to survive becoming a meme and stay breathtaking. It put Guo Pei on the global map, defined Rihanna as fashion royalty, and remains the look every single Met Gala is quietly measured against. The GOAT.
2. Cher in Bob Mackie, 1974
The origin story. Long before the Met became a celebrity costume contest, Cher walked in on designer Bob Mackie’s arm wearing a sheer, beaded, feather-trimmed “naked illusion” gown – made from French soufflé fabric that was controversial at the time and later became restricted due to flammability concerns.
People were genuinely scandalized; some newsstands reportedly pulled the Time magazine cover she landed in wearing it. Mackie later said he’d never seen so many photographers come out of the shadows at once. This is the look that flipped a quiet museum fundraiser into the spectacle we obsess over today. Every naked dress on this list owes her royalties.
3. Rihanna as the Pope in Maison Margiela, 2018
When the theme is “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” and you’re co-chairing, you have two options: play it safe, or dress as the literal Pope. Rihanna chose the Pope. Her Maison Margiela by John Galliano look – a jeweled corset minidress, a sculptural embellished robe, and a beaded papal mitre – took a reported 250 hours to sew and 500 to hand-embroider.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe headpiece was so convincing that a New York cardinal joked on the radio that she’d borrowed it from him. It’s the gold standard for theme commitment, and the look that cemented her as the undisputed Queen of the Met.
4. Lady Gaga in Brandon Maxwell, 2019
How do you out-camp the Camp gala? You treat the carpet as a stage and perform a one-woman show in four acts.Gaga opened in a voluminous hot-pink Brandon Maxwell cape gown with a reported 25-foot train and an escort of umbrella-wielding dancers.
Embed from Getty ImagesThen she stripped – live, on the steps – into a black off-shoulder ballgown, then a slim hot-pink column dress accessorized with a giant ’90s cell phone and oversized sunglasses, and finally down to a crystal bra, fishnets, and platform boots while towing a wagon of champagne. Anna Wintour reportedly clasped her hands in delight. A 16-minute fashion performance disguised as an arrival.
5. Zendaya as Cinderella in Tommy Hilfiger, 2019
The “Camp” look that made grown adults gasp at a livestream. Zendaya arrived in a custom Tommy Hilfiger gown that started out as a muted gray ballgown – and then, with Law Roach playing fairy godfather and waving a smoking wand, the dress lit up and bloomed into glowing Cinderella blue, powered by hidden animatronics and LED tech.
Embed from Getty ImagesShe carried a pumpkin-carriage Judith Leiber bag and left an actual glass slipper behind on the steps for the story. Fashion meets magic trick meets full Disney homage. Nobody narrativizes a red carpet like these two.
6. Blake Lively in Atelier Versace, 2022
A Met co-host who turned New York City itself into a gown. For “Gilded Glamour,” Blake Lively walked in wearing a bronze-and-rose-gold Atelier Versace dress – and then, with one pull of an oversized bow, the panel released and the whole thing transformed into shimmering patina-blue, mimicking how the Statue of Liberty oxidized over time.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe gown also referenced the Empire State Building’s lines and the blue ceiling of Grand Central. A color-changing love letter to the city, executed live on the carpet. Performance and craftsmanship in one breathtaking reveal.
SEE ALSO: Blake Lively’s Best Met Gala Style Moments
7. Billy Porter as a sun god in The Blonds, 2019
The most dramatic entrance in recent Met memory, full stop. Billy Porter was carried onto the 2019 “Camp” carpet on a litter by a team of shirtless men in gold, lying back like a deity who had simply decided to descend.
Embed from Getty ImagesHe rose in a custom catsuit with enormous gold wings and a glittering chain headpiece by The Blonds, then spread those wings for the cameras. “Camp is the art of being extra, and I’ve always been extra,” he said, and honestly the look argued the case better than any essay could. Pure theater.
8. Beyoncé in Givenchy, 2015
Beyoncé arrived at the 2015 “China: Through the Looking Glass” gala so late that photographers were literally packing up – and then detonated the internet. Her custom Givenchy Haute Couture by Riccardo Tisci was a sheer, illusion-tulle gown dyed to her exact skin tone, with thousands of multicolored crystals hand-sewn over roughly 2,000 hours, finished with a sleek high ponytail.
Embed from Getty ImagesIt barely nodded to the theme and nobody cared. This is the look that turned the “naked dress” from a risk into a genre. She came to make us look, and we have not stopped.
9. Kim Kardashian in Marilyn Monroe’s dress, 2022
You cannot tell the story of the modern Met without this one, for better and worse. For “Gilded Glamour,” Kim Kardashian wore the actual dress Marilyn Monroe wore to sing “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” to JFK in 1962 – the flesh-toned, 2,500-rhinestone Jean Louis gown (sketched by a young Bob Mackie) that Ripley’s bought for a record $4.8 million.
Embed from Getty ImagesIt came with armed guards and white gloves. She lost 16 pounds in three weeks to fit it, only wore the fragile original up the staircase, then changed into a replica. Endlessly debated, never forgotten – which is exactly what makes it legendary.
10. Princess Diana in Dior, 1996
Proof that the Met’s most powerful flex is sometimes restraint. In 1996, the year the gala honored Christian Dior, Princess Diana walked in wearing a navy silk gown with lace trim – from John Galliano’s debut haute couture collection for the house – accessorized with sapphires and a little Dior bag.
Embed from Getty ImagesA future royal in what was essentially a slip, mid-divorce, completely unbothered. It’s still one of the most quietly devastating entrances in Met history, and the original receipt for slip-dress-as-power-move.
11. Lil Nas X in Versace, 2021
Lil Nas X turned his Met debut into a three-act play. He arrived at the 2021 gala in a regal gold velvet cape with an endless train, shed it to reveal a gleaming Medusa-stamped suit of gold armor, then peeled THAT off to reveal a crystal-covered Versace bodysuit underneath.
Embed from Getty ImagesEach layer mapped onto his own story – concealment, protection, and finally living as his unguarded self as a Black, queer artist. A reveal with actual meaning behind the spectacle. He understood the assignment and then handed in extra credit.
12. Billie Eilish in Oscar de la Renta, 2021
For “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” Billie Eilish made her Met debut and rewrote her entire image in one look. The peach tulle Oscar de la Renta ballgown – corseted, with a 15-foot train carried by five people – channeled Old Hollywood and Marilyn-era glamour, a dramatic departure from her usual oversized streetwear.
Embed from Getty ImagesShe paired it with a soft blonde bob and a full 30 pieces of Cartier. The kicker: she only agreed to wear the house if Oscar de la Renta went fur-free. They did. Glamour and a moral clause in one gown.
13. Jared Leto carrying his own head in Gucci, 2019
The accessory heard round the world. Leto walked the “Camp” carpet in a crimson, crystal-loaded Gucci gown by Alessandro Michele – a beautiful look on its own – and then cradled a hyper-realistic replica of his own severed head in his arms.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe eerily accurate $11,000 prop (later reportedly lost, which is its own saga) referenced Gucci’s Fall 2018 runway, and he spent the night handing it to other celebrities like a party favor. Surreal, deranged, unforgettable. Exactly what the theme ordered.
14. Katy Perry as a chandelier in Moschino, 2019
Some people light up a room. Katy Perry arrived AS the light fixture. Her custom Moschino look by Jeremy Scott was a fully functional, candle-bedecked chandelier – wired to actually glow – that she navigated up the Met steps with the focus of someone defusing a bomb. (Bella Hadid reportedly claimed she had to be transported in a truck, which I choose to believe.)
Embed from Getty ImagesThen she changed into a literal cheeseburger for the after-party, because why commit to one absurd idea when you can do two. The purest expression of “Camp” the carpet has ever seen.
15. Doja Cat as Choupette in Oscar de la Renta, 2023
The 2023 gala honored Karl Lagerfeld, and Doja Cat decided the only correct tribute was to dress as the late designer’s actual cat. Her custom Oscar de la Renta gown – silver-and-white ombré, fully beaded, backless mermaid silhouette with a feathered train and cat ears built into the hood – reportedly took around 5,000 hours to make.
Embed from Getty ImagesThen she topped it with a prosthetic feline snout, claw nails, and a Vogue interview conducted partly in meows. Two other guests dressed as Choupette that night and she still won the category. Unhinged in the best possible way.
16. Cardi B in Thom Browne, 2019
If “Camp” was a competition for sheer maximalism, Cardi B submitted a thesis. Her oxblood Thom Browne gown swallowed the carpet whole: a 10-foot train, an estimated 30,000 hand-applied feathers, and – this is real – 44-carat ruby nipple embellishments by Stefere Jewelry.
Embed from Getty ImagesIt took a team to move it and a separate team to comprehend it. Decadent, theatrical, and completely committed to the bit. Nobody does opulence-as-spectacle quite like her.
17. Sarah Jessica Parker in a Philip Treacy headpiece, 2015
SJP has spent over a decade treating the Met like her personal millinery showcase, and 2015’s “China: Through the Looking Glass” gave us her crowning entry – literally.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe towering red Philip Treacy headpiece looked like a controlled fire on top of her head, all flickering flames and dramatic side tassels, paired with an embroidered H&M gown. It’s the kind of swing only she commits to without blinking. When it works, it works, and on her it always works.
18. Claire Danes in Zac Posen, 2016
For “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology,” Claire Danes brought the single best argument for the entire theme. Her pale-blue Zac Posen ballgown looked like classic Old Hollywood couture in the daylight – and then the lights went down and the whole thing GLOWED.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe fiber-optic woven organza (sourced from France, naturally) was rigged with tiny battery packs and built hollow so it stayed light enough to move in. A literal Cinderella moment three years before that phrase belonged to someone else on this list. Tech as fairy dust.
19. Rihanna in Comme des Garçons, 2017
The 2017 theme honored Rei Kawakubo, and the “avant-garde” brief left half the carpet visibly panicking. Rihanna did the unthinkable: she actually wore Comme des Garçons. The pink, petal-layered architectural piece – inspired by a Comme des Garçons collection that mixed 18th-century silhouettes with punk influences – looked like a flower mid-explosion, paired with thigh-high gladiator heels and painted pink cheeks.
Embed from Getty ImagesMost people interpret a theme. Rihanna becomes it. This is the look that quietly confirmed she could win the Met three times if she felt like it.
20. Zendaya in Maison Margiela, 2024
Theme: “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” dress code “The Garden of Time.” After a five-year Met hiatus, Zendaya came back as a co-chair and did the thing only she and Law Roach can do – turned a red carpet into a character study.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe custom archival Maison Margiela Artisanal gown by John Galliano dripped down her body in forest-green and navy stripes, finished with a mermaid tail, leaf motifs, and a feathered fascinator that read like she’d just wandered out of an enchanted garden that mildly fears her. The smoky berry makeup and thinned-out brows turned the whole thing villain-coded.
The throughline across 50 years of these looks: the Met rewards the people brave enough to treat fashion as theater. Cher cracked it open in 1974, Rihanna perfected it in 2015, and everyone in between turned a museum staircase into the best stage in the world. See you on the steps.
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