Monday, 02 March 2026
Monday, 02 March 2026
Priyanka Chopra: 'The Indian actress took little time to get on the best-dressed lists after making her Hollywood debut and her outings at the Met Gala have always been noticed. Championing the cause of Ralph Lauren, Priyanka’s burgundy velvet dress with a ornate golden headpiece in 2018 and her bold take on Camp in 2019 have clearly not gone unnoticed.
Getty ImagesMay. Monday. The Met. Over the years, these words have come to signify one and only one thing — the annual fashion extravaganza of the year! Avant-garde fashion statements steered by visionary themes — and an accompanying costume exhibition that the gala serves as the opening night for — dictate the fundraising extravaganza for New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, popularly known now as The Met Gala. Every year, scores of celebrities from the world over, lucky enough to score an invite, walk up the coveted steps of The Met under the prying eyes of the paparazzi and fashion critics as each strives to create a legacy in fashion that can be talked about for years to come. Elaborate performances, couple debuts and even proposals have all taken place at the gala over the years.
After last year’s way-over-the-top Camp: Notes on Fashion, this year’s theme was set to be About Time: Fashion and Duration, chaired by Louis Vuitton’s Nicolas Ghesquiere, Emma Stone, Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, Meryl Streep, and Vogue’s Anna Wintour. The accompanying exhibition was set to show the journey of fashion since 1870, in commemoration of the 150th-anniversary of The Met with around 120 immortalised looks. However, instead of the annual fashion pilgrimage, what we had to make do with this year was a virtual note by Wintour, and virtual performances by Florence Welsh of Florence and the Machine and a DJ set by Off-White and Louis Vuitton men’s designer Virgil Abloh, on May 4.
While we miss what could have been on the steps of The Met this year, here’s a retrospective on what has been and has remained in our collective fashion psyche from the gala over the years.
Billy Porter: Always one to turn heads with his sartorial choices, Billy Porter scripted Met Gala history in 2019 when he was carried in by six men on a chaise-like contraption but only more ornate. What more? He was dressed in a custom bejewelled catsuit with 10-feet wings by The Blonds, a 24-carat gold headpiece, custom gold-leaf Giuseppe Zanotti shoes and fine jewels, to finish his look of the sun god.
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Rihanna: Of all her fashion moments, it is difficult to zero in on one for this former Met Gala co-chair but her stunning yellow number by Chinese couturier Guo Pei in 2015, shortly after which she also danced on top of tables while performing at the gala in another creation by Pei, and the multiple Grammy winner in all her papal glory in 2018 stand out.
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Liv Tyler and Stella McCartney: If The Met Gala is known for its fashion looks that celebrities carefully plan for all year, descendants of rock ’n’ roll royalty, Liv Tyler and Stella McCartney, dared to give the drama a miss as they rocked the 1999 red carpet wearing DIY-style one-shoulder, studded tops with “Rock Royalty” splashed on them.
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Yesteryears: From Princess Diana in a navy blue Dior camisole dress in 1996 and Bianca Jagger in a corsetted black dress in 1981 to Cher in an embellished number in 1985 (the Met Gala was themed around India) and Jackie O in a Valentino dress in 1979, the illustrious steps of The Met have seen them all.
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7. Lady Gaga: Out of all her red carpet outings, which are nothing but memorable, her “performance” at the Met Gala last year, during which she tirelessly transitioned between four dramatic Brandon Maxwell looks — a fuchsia cape-gown with a 25-feet train, a strapless black number with exaggerated hips, a hot-pink cocktail dress and lastly, black lingerie with her signature chunky heels, was stuff that has quickly transcended to Met Gala history.
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Kim Kardashian West: Who can forget Kim Kardashian West’s forgettable debut in a Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy dress that spurred a slew of memes? But did the reality show star learn and how! Since then, with or without husband Kanye West, Kim has pulled off one remarkable look after another, especially with a midnight blue Lanvin number, the year after, standing out. Her bleached eyebrows and a Balmain custom-made dress in 2016 and last year’s skintight Mugler dress in nude, dripping in beads and sequins, have definitely made style pundits take notice.
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George & Amal Clooney; Hugh Grant & Liz Hurley: Out of all the couple outings, our favourites still are these two couples. While the Clooneys made it their first outing after their nuptials in 2015 — she in a Maison Margiela gown and he in a Tom Ford tux, Grant and Hurley’s outing in 1997 cemented their then standing as fashion darlings.
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Sarah Jessica Parker : What can you say about someone who can even make plaid fashionable? Accompanied by Alexander McQueen, The Sex and the City star strode up the steps with confidence in 2006, twinning (and winning) in plaid. However, she can also be credited for “breaking the Internet” with a Philip Treacy headpiece in 2015.
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Katy Perry: The story goes that the singer took her over-the-top life-size wings and her Versace ensemble for a spin in an open-top car around Manhattan before hitting the Met Gala, thereby making herself the talk of the town in advance. But irrespective of the advanced outing, her 2018 ensemble became healthy fodder for memes and fashion magazines alike.
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Men at The Met: While most male guests have kept it stylist albeit safe in tailored jackets and tuxedos, there have been a few who dared to be different, including Jared Leto and Harry Styles in Gucci and Ezra Miller in Burberry from last year and Chadwick Boseman in Versace in 2018.
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