As the Met Gala Is Postponed “Indefinitely”, We Look Back at Looks We Love

With the 2020 Met Gala’s About Time: Fashion and Duration red carpet extravaganza and corresponding exhibition cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, we no longer have fashion’s biggest annual event to look forward to – so we reminisce instead. The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City was established in 1937 to preserve historically significant costumes and accessories from the past, and now possesses over 35,000 such artefacts.

In order to keep the institute thriving, the Met has been throwing an annual gala since 1971, attracting the world’s most famous faces for a red carpet walk, a tour of the current exhibit, and a cocktail hour. While Met Gala attire was straightforwardly black-tie oriented for decades, it has become one of the most creative playing fields for red carpet looks in the past two decades. With themes like goddesses, superheroes, and punks, the A-list guests have plenty of opportunity to flex their sartorial muscles, culminating in some of the most exciting ensembles of the year.

Over time, we’ve seen Princess Diana stun in Dior, Sarah Jessica Parker go all-out with extravagant costumes, and megawatt stars like Rihanna and Beyoncé serving seriously memorable looks. And since the Met Gala is no longer on the horizon, this retrospective revisits some of its most iconic looks – and how they’ve evolved – over the decades.