Throughout the years, the Met Gala has been the site of some unforgettable celebrity moments—from Lady Gaga’s elaborate striptease to Rihanna’s riveting performance on top of a dinner table. And who could forget when Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston were first caught dancing flirtatiously with each other, kindling the Hiddleswift phenomenon that feels ancient now, in the Age of Travis? Here, we recap twelve Met Gala moments that had us doing a double-take.
Tyla gets sandy, 2024
Tyla may be best known for her hit song “Water,” but she was all about sand at last year’s Met Gala, making her debut at the event in a Balmain gown that nodded to the night’s “Garden of Time” dress code by literally representing…the sands of time. (She even had a little hourglass purse!) The look was stunning and figure-hugging—so much so, in fact, that she needed a bit of help getting up the Met steps. Then, as Tyla entered the party, Olivier Rousteing brought out a big pair of shears to turn the dress into a mini.
Doja Cat strips down over the course of the evening, 2024
Never one to shy away from going big at the Met Gala, Doja Cat re-earned her reputation as one of the night’s most reliably news-making stars by leaving her hotel in a small white towel, then changing into a wet white T-shirt dress (and, even later in the night, baring almost all in a monochromatic nude set). Thank you, Vetements!
Michael Shannon steps out with a Balenciaga-branded bag of chips, 2024
It’s always fun to guess who will show up with the best Met Gala accessory, but Shannon won the contest handily last year by celebrating “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” with a calfskin Balenciaga handbag designed to look exactly like a…bag of chips. Ceci n’est pas une prop comedy joke!
Doja Cat shows up in full-on feline form, 2023
The Met Gala isn’t exactly known for attracting attendees who play it sartorially safe, but Doja Cat took fashion transformation to a whole new level with her 2023 look: she arrived dressed as the late Karl Lagerfeld’s beloved cat Choupette in a custom hand-beaded gown and hood with ears put together by Oscar de La Renta co-creative directors Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia. Meow, indeed!
Kim Kardashian unearths Marilyn Monroe’s “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” dress, 2022
In a move that delighted fans and enraged fashion conservators in equal measure, for 2022’s “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” gala, Kim Kardashian turned to the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum in Orlando to borrow a very special piece: the form-fitting Jean-Louis dress that Marilyn Monroe wore to serenade John F. Kennedy on his birthday in 1962. “Everything had to be specifically timed and I had to practice walking up the stairs,” Kardashian told Vogue of the strict precautions in place to protect the dress, which had been sold at auction for an astonishing $4.8 million in 2016.
Lady Gaga bares it all, 2019
There are, quite simply, no words for the performance Lady Gaga put on at the 2019 Met Gala for “Camp: Notes on Fashion.” The actress and singer showed up in a fuchsia Brandon Maxwell cape gown with a 25-foot train, taking off layer after layer until she was writhing on the steps of the Met in lingerie, fishnets, and sky-high heels. Nobody does it better!
Jared Leto accessorizes with his own head, 2019
Why stick to jewelry or watches when you can walk down the Met Gala carpet holding your own head as the ultimate accessory? That’s exactly what Leto did in 2019, courtesy of Gucci (the severed heads first appeared on the fall 2018 runway), and it was both terrifying and impossible to look away from.
2 Chainz “proposes” to Kesha Ward, 2018
It was the moment nobody expected: On the red carpet for the “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” gala, rapper 2 Chainz proposed to partner Kesha Ward. Ward thankfully said yes, as the crowd of photographers snapped and cheered away—but not so fast. As it turned out, 2 Chainz had also popped the question to Ward five years earlier, at the BET Awards. (What can we say: The man likes a grand gesture!) The pair would finally marry in August.
Katy Perry’s outfit needing an open-top vehicle, 2018
For “Heavenly Bodies,” Katy Perry descended upon the Met wearing a custom Versace creation complete with angel wings. It was one of the night’s more meme-worthy ensembles—and the best part was that it needed an open-top vehicle to get to the venue. Ahead of the red carpet, the singer was spotted taking a casual drive on the Manhattan streets, her theatrical wings out for all normal pedestrians to see.
Beyoncé hits the red carpet solo after Lemonade in 2016
After Beyoncé premiered her groundbreaking visual album Lemonade, the singer was subject to a lot of speculation, particularly regarding the state of her marriage to Jay Z. About a week later, Queen Bey surprised everyone by appearing solo on the Met’s red carpet, wearing a nude latex Givenchy number (cue the Internet jokes about whatever happened to “Becky with the good hair”).
