Unmissable Looks from the Met Gala 2024

May 7, 2024

“Florals, for spring? Groundbreaking.” The infamous line so sarcastically delivered by Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly in the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada is certainly apt for this year’s Met Gala.

This year’s theme for the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Benefit centers around the exhibition, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” which boasts roughly 250 rare pieces spanning 400 years of fashion history from the institute’s permanent collection. The show includes pieces designed by Dior, Givenchy, and Schiaparelli, with some garments that are too fragile to be put on display, like a Charles Frederick Worth ball gown from 1877, being shown via video animation, light projection, AI, and CGI. The highly sensorial show is split into three categories from the natural world: land, sea, and sky.

Related to the exhibition, the theme for this evening’s attire, “The Garden of Time”, was inspired by J.G. Ballard’s titular short story from 1962. Many A-list celebrities, from Zendaya to Sam Smith, walked the carpet in classic silhouettes and, as expected, florals.

Even though it arguably bordered on the cliché, it also celebrated the classic. Below, are a few un-missable looks from this year’s Met Gala green carpet.

Zendaya

Image Credit: Photo Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

Edgy and sleek with its textures and feather headdress, yet classic in its silhouette, Met Gala co-host Zendaya delivered in this Maison Margiela gown. Edgy makeup and grapevine accessories completed the sinuous look.
J. Harrison Ghee

Image Credit: Photo Kevin Mazur/MG24/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

More is more is more in this feathered and embellished cotton candy–colored ensemble, complete with a large bow in the back and a bug-like hair headdress. Spectators would have to have their eyes closed to miss this look.
Dan Levy

Image Credit: Photo John Shearer/WireImage

A fun twist on an old favorite, this bright floral pop on a black suit is soon to be an instant classic!
Ayo Edebiri

Image Credit: Getty Images

Similarly leaning into the florals was Ayo Edebiri in a flowy halter-neck gown with white at the top and florals at the bottom. Giving it a little extra pop is its hand-painted, hand-embroidered floral lace and three-dimensional appliqué flowers.
Sarah Jessica Parker

Image Credit: Photo Kevin Mazur/MG24/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

The Sex in the City actress delivered a stunningly classic look that would have made her famous, fashion-forward character Carrie Bradshaw proud. The embellished nude tea-length gown with a hoop skirt and a posh headpiece was simply timeless.
Taylor Russell

Image Credit: Photo Kevin Mazur/MG24/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

Teasing that she always wanted to be a tree on the red carpet, Taylor Russell fulfilled that dream tonight in a Loewe gown.
Tyla

Image Credit: Photo Kevin Mazur/MG24/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

Looking to withstand the sands of time? Look no further than this dress, which is quite literally made from sand. Though a bit unconventional, the approach to materiality is perhaps the most artistic of the evening with a sculpture-like quality.
Rita Ora

Image Credit: Photo Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

This barely-there beaded look was constructed from beads that the British multihyphenate claimed in an interview on the red carpet are “older than anyone on this planet.” The beads, some of which date to the first and second century BCE, are strung together and hang over a mesh body suit.
Elle Fanning

Image Credit: Photo Cindy Ord/MG24/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

Straight out of a fairytale, Elle Fanning’s look is reminiscent of the classic American tales many young girls grew up with. Her gown appears to wrap around her like glass with sculpted birds at her shoulders looking as if they had dressed her for the evening.
Sam Smith and Christian Cowan

Image Credit: Photo Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

The duo wore complimentary 1940s Oscar Wilde-inspired suits for the evening, designed by Cowan himelf, that (not so) quietly celebrated their queerness. Marking Smith’s first time at the event, they wore a black suit, with a chiffon skirt overlay, pinned closed with a 24-carat gold and sterling silver dipped English rose—a nod to the couple’s English heritage. Cowan wore a similarly fashioned white suit.