The Super Bowl of Fashion: A Rewind of the Most Recent Met Galas

The Met Gala is often referred to as “one of fashion’s biggest nights”, or “the Super Bowl of Fashion” and is typically held on the first Monday in May. Everyone who is anyone attends this extravagant event held annually in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and is a fundraiser for the Costume Institute’s new exhibit. Unfortunately, due to obvious circumstances, there was no Met Gala this past year. It’s too bad because so much could have been done with the theme “About Time: Fashion and Duration”. The Met Gala is an event I look forward to every spring, and I can’t wait to see how everyone shows out this year, and even more can’t wait to see the bathroom selfies. Let’s take a walk down memory lane and look at some of the best looks since 2015:

2015 MET Gala

China: Through the Looking Glass

The 2015 Met Gala hosted some iconic looks from Hollywood’s biggest stars. Rihanna always understands the assignment when it comes to her MET costumes, for this theme in particular she wore a long, gorgeous yellow fur coat from Chinese designer Guo Pei. Apparently, it took an entire team of people just to get her out of the car. Rihanna even had the opportunity to perform at the event that evening, which was incredible as always. Beyonce also attended the MET in 2015 wearing Givenchy attire. This dress took her 5 hours to get into with every bead having to be glued on. Sarah Jessica Parker showed up in a Phillip Treacy headpiece and a dress she collaborated on with H&M, which she said on the red carpet was “risky”. She may have felt that it was a risk, but I think it looked amazing and very fitting for the theme. You can see more looks and behind the scenes from this MET in particular in the documentary ‘The First Monday in May’, available on Youtube. 

2016 MET Gala

Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology

Neutral, metallic, and dark colors seemed to be the colors of the evening at the 2016 event as many of the attendees showed up wearing those. There was lots of glitz and glam, many stars wore glittery, beaded extravagant looks. This might have been one of Taylor Swift’s most notable red carpet looks. She looked incredible as Co-Chair wearing a silver Louis Vuitton dress and lace up heels with her blonde hair and black lipstick standing out. Model Gigi Hadid came wearing a sparkly greyish-silver Tommy Hilfiger dress, with boyfriend Zayn Malik in Versace. It looks as though Zayn understood the theme pretty well, according to his suit with metal arms.

2017 MET Gala

Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between

The 2017 MET Gala theme was an ode to Comme des Garcons and their designer Rei Kawakubo. She had a heavy influence on avant garde fashion and many attendees paid tribute to that through their looks. These celebs did an amazing job at following ‘avant garde’ through their looks. Pharell served as Co-Chair this year and showed up with his wife, both wearing Comme. He once stated that he learned from Comme that “fashion should have no boundaries', which is true. His wife, Helen Lasichanh, wore a Comme onesie straight from their Fall 2017 collection. Zendaya always slays her red carpet looks, and once again did that at the 2017 MET Gala. She wore a glamorous Dolce & Gabbana dress with red & yellow parrots printed all over it. Zendaya never disappoints, and it seems like she really can pull off almost anything. Nicki Minaj is another attendee that always stands out in the best way possible. Wearing a unique, custom H&M dress, there was nothing quite like Nicki Minaj on the red carpet that evening. She came prepared this year paying tribute to the dramatic, avant-garde theme.

2018 MET Gala

Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination

In my opinion, this was one of the most memorable themes of the MET Gala ever. There were so many extravagant and outstanding looks to see. It’s hard to say who had the best outfits because everyone and their designers did an amazing job at following the theme for this event. This kind of talent and creativity from fashion designers is mindblowing, it would be cool to see a behind the scenes documentary from this MET. One of my personal favorites was Rihanna dressed as the Pope in Maison Margiela by John Galliano. Some other favorite celeb looks of mine were Katy Perry (Versace), Cardi B (Moschino), SZA (Versace), Lana Del Rey & Jared Leto (both in Gucci), and Zendaya (Versace).

2019 MET Gala

Camp: Notes on Fashion

This has to be one of my favorite ever MET Gala themes. I still can’t get over Kacey Musgraves Moschino Barbie look, and only wish I could’ve gone dressed up like that. Unfortunately, Rihanna did not grace New York City with her presence and beauty at the 2019 MET. However, there were still many notable, impressionable guests and looks at the most recent MET exhibit celebration. Anna Wintour even showed up looking beautiful to celebrate the ‘Camp’ theme. Jennifer Lopez, Kendall & Kylie Jenner in Versace, Halsey in Prabal Gurung, and Lady Gaga in Brandon Maxwell are some of my additional favorites. Like the 2018 theme, most everyone’s outfit was amazing.

Obviously and unfortunately there was no 2020 MET Gala, which is really too bad because the theme (About Fashion: Time and Duration) was fantastic. Hopefully this year’s MET will redeem itself with a smaller, more intimate event planned for September. The theme “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion and In America: An Anthology of Fashion” will be executed as a 2 part exhibit in 2021 and 2022, and might even be somewhat similar to last year’s. I am looking forward to seeing all of the designer’s creativity and beauty come to life this fall. I find it so interesting that the same designers can work with multiple celebrities for this event, yet the costumes end up so unique and different. As an apparel design student, I have a hard time comprehending how these top designers might relate pieces to “American Fashion”, but know undoubtedly that this event and its looks will be beautifully overwhelming.