The Met Gala, the annual fundraiser for The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, began as yet another society event in 1948. Through the decades, however, the Met Gala has evolved to become one of the year’s most exclusive invites for fashion and culture’s elite. No matter what the theme—whether 1999’s “Rock Style,” 2015’s “China: Through the Looking Glass,” 2025’s upcoming “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” or others through history—attendees show up and show out, bringing their most daring fashion out to play on the Met steps.
These days, about 400 lucky guests are invited to strut their stuff at the iconic event, following in the well-shod footsteps of invitees before them. Style enthusiasts all have their own personal picks for best-dressed through the years, but there’s no arguing with the fact that the Met Gala has been the backdrop for some of modern history’s most stunning looks, hosting fashion royalty like Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Cher, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Rihanna. The Met also provides a dramatic backdrop for rising style stars to break out. This was the case for Tyla’s immediately indelible Balmain sand dress in 2024, a garment so delicate that she had to be carried up the steps to avoid damaging it—and it was later given an on-the-spot alteration inside the event. Not to mention the times when actual royalty have attended, like Princess Diana’s sole appearance at the event, in 1996. John Galliano later recalled that the “liberated” royal “ripped the corset out” of the navy blue gown he’d designed for her at Dior.
Fairytales like these can only come true at the Met Gala.
Before this year’s crop of stars and luminaries walks the steps of The Met for the 2025 Met Gala, we’re taking a walk down memory lane and highlighting 59 of the most memorable looks of Met Gala history.