Most Iconic Met Gala Moments

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard many people talking about the Met Gala recently, and breaking down the best and worst dressed. But what even is the point of the Met Gala and how did it become a thing? Let’s unpack the most famous night in fashion. 

The Met Gala, sometimes referred to as the Met Ball, is an annual fundraising event hosted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, benefiting their Costume Institute. It’s been coined the most prestigious fashion event of the year, and invitations are highly regarded. The invite list covers the entire realm of the entertainment and pop culture universe. 

You’ll see athletes, singers, actresses, influencers, models, politicians and more walking up the famous Met steps.These invites are organized by Vogue magazine and editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, who has chaired or co-chaired the gala since 1995. 

Wintour is also credited with the yearly themes that guests are expected to follow when piecing together their attire for the event. The theme of the event reflects the theme of the costume exhibit for that year, and it’s always hosted on the first Monday of May, representing the opening of the exhibit. 

Over the past years of the gala there have been many notable moments that will go down in history. Many of these moments include bold fashion choices, whether they were a hit or a miss. One of the most iconic looks was Lady Gaga at the 2019 gala when the theme was Camp. She put on a performance as she stripped from a large ball gown to barely there lingerie as she made her way up the steps. Some loved this take on the Camp theme, while others were more critical. Say what you want about this look, but she definitely made a statement. 

Another iconic moment in Met history was Kim Kardashian’s first appearance in 2013. She accompanied her ex-husband Kayne West. The theme was punk, and Kardashian wore the infamous floral dress with gloves, strutting up the steps while eight months pregnant. References were made that it looked like the print of a couch you’d see in your grandma's house, but here we are nine years later still talking about that iconic moment. 

How can we talk about The Met without talking about the queen of the event herself, Blake Lively. She co-hosted alongside her husband Ryan Renolds this year, and blew us away with her take on the theme America: An Anthology of Fashion. Lively never disappoints when it comes to any of her looks, but specifically at the gala. She had one of her best looks of all time at the 2018 event when the theme was Heavenly Bodies. Blake Lively, Gigi Hadid, Ariana Grande, Rihanna and Zendaya’s looks are the reason so many people believe that was the best theme to date. 

The Met Gala isn’t solely famous for the fashion involved. One of the biggest Met scandals, that the public will likely never have true answers for, is what happened between Tom Hiddleston and Taylor Swift the night of the 2016 Met Gala. Swift, who was dating Calvin Harris at the time, was caught in a video dancing with Tom Hiddleston, who she ended up dating a few months down the road. Swift’s hit song “Getaway Car'' is rumored to be written about this night, with lyrics such as “The ties were black, the lies were white, in shades of gray and candlelight, I wanted to leave him, I needed a reason.”
Karlie Kloss has found her way into the history books of the Met Gala after one of her tweets from before the 2019 Met Gala caught her some criticism. She tweeted a picture of her eye staring into a small pocket sized mirror with the caption “looking camp in the eye” and then arrived in one of the most underwhelming outfits of the night, not in theme. This meme resurfaces the internet whenever the Met rolls around, and many people now think her tweet was the most “Camp” part of the night. 

Another Met moment that has become a meme is Jason Derulo falling down the stairs. Well, he didn’t actually. In May of 2015 tweets spread like wildfire with a picture of a man tumbling down the steps. Derulo wasn’t even in attendance at the Met Gala, however like clockwork, the photo has resurfaced just in time for any major red carpet event since then. 

The Met Gala is always a night to go down in history each and every year. It’s a time for celebrities to showcase their fashion and creativity in a fun way that also benefits a good cause. It’s always fun to see who’s invited and of those celebrities, who nails the theme and who completely misses the mark. Only fifty more Mondays until we can celebrate the most prestigious night in fashion again.