Behind every great look from a Met Gala heavyweight, there are usually five equally brilliant looks followed by one terrible look. First.
After years of advertised, meticulously documented Met Galas, it can be hard to remember looks from just five years ago, let alone the 2000s or, heaven forbid, the 2010s. That’s why many celebrities easily hide their Met debuts, especially if they have a long list of iconic looks to bury underneath.
But in keeping with this year’s Met exhibition, Sleeping Beauties: Fashion Re-Awakening, we’re digging up some long-forgotten vintage Met looks. Rihanna may be the royalty of the red carpet now, but she was once a prom queen at Georges Chakra. Bella Hadid may be the queen of slinky chic, but even she got her messy start (in custom Topshop, no less). Here we remember the moment our devout Met heavyweights first set foot on those hallowed stairs.
Zendaya
Zendaya, the reigning Crown Princess of the Met Gala and this year’s host, first attended the Met Gala in 2015, when she was just 18 years old. The theme was China: Through the Looking Glass, and Baby Z was wearing a dress by Sicilian designer Fausto Puglisi, whom you’ll probably recognize from his recent work at Roberto Cavalli. “We spent a lot of time with him, his stylist Law Roach and his father,” Puglisi told the Standard in 2023. “He is such an artist, so deep.”
Bella Hadid
Also making her debut in 2015 was baby-faced Bella Hadid, who attended alongside her old pal Hailey Bieber (then-Baldwin). Believe it or not, she had a custom Topshop look, a tight bun, a gold handbag and black painted toenails. It won’t go down as one of Bella’s best looks, but its innocence is pretty adorable. Plus RIP Topshop.
Beyonce
Queen Bey made her debut at the Met Gala in 2008 with the theme Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy. She wore a blush pink Givenchy dress with emerald earrings; it wasn’t very close to that theme, but that’s okay because a) people weren’t sticking to dress codes nearly as much back then and b) Beyoncé can do whatever she wants.
Rihanna
Bad Gal RiRi arrived at the 2007 Met Gala in the midst of her Good Girl Gone Bad era, sporting a chunky pixie cut and fingerless gloves. She paired these all-important accessories with her crystal-studded Georges Chakra gown, giving her look an oddly prom-like energy. The theme was Poiret: King of Fashion. It’s come so far.
Nicole Kidman
If we throw things back to 2003, we have Nicole Kidman and, according to Getty, “an unidentified man” (aka Adrien Brody, who won Best Actor at the Oscars that year). This was Kidman’s first Met, the theme was Goddess: Classic Mode, and honestly Nicole looked pretty goddess-like in her Tom Ford-era Gucci.
Victoria Beckham
One of the first to grace the steps of the Met in 2003 was Victoria Beckham, wearing Dolce and Gabbana. Flanked by both designers, Posh oozed 2000s glam with strappy stilettos, a massive open-top and a mega tan.
Jared Leto
Frankly, men don’t have much confidence in the Met Gala. There are a few names that stand out every year — Harry Styles in 2018, Timothée Chalamet in 2021, and Brian Tyree Henry in 2023 come to mind — but very few are actually consistently big hits. Like it or not, one of the most talked about men on the Met Gala red carpet is Jared Leto. He made his debut in 2016 wearing Gucci with the theme Manus x Machina: Fashion in the Age of Technology.
Lady Gaga
There are so many perfect Met looks to choose from that Gaga’s red carpet debut in 2015 is mostly forgotten, in part because she just technically its debut. She performed at the 2010 Met Gala but did not make it to the red carpet. For China: Through the Looking Glass, she wore a feathered, kimono-style Balenciaga suit. Not bad, but far from the best.
kim kardashian
The first member of the Kar-Jenner clan to attend the Met Gala (as Kanye West’s date) was Kim Kardashian, who wore the now-infamous floral Givenchy number in 2013 while pregnant with her first child, North West. The dress is best remembered for spawning memes, and Kim is very aware of that — in fact, she told Vogue in 2019 that she “cried all the way home” about it. Maybe that’s why he’s been acting so recklessly at Met Galas ever since.
Kendall Jenner
Before she was sporting phoenix feathers and bleached brows on the Met steps like a good fashion girl, Kendall wasn’t taking any chances in 2014 by wearing a column dress that was—you guessed it—a Topshop exclusive. Phillip Green’s jump behind him is a bit of a giveaway.
kylie jenner
The number of Kar-Jenners attending the Met always causes a problem; either for the naysayers to question why they were invited, or for the actual Kardashians to question why they weren’t invited (Khloé was notably absent from the chic invitation steps until 2022). Kylie finally breached the fort in 2016, where the theme was Manus X Machina and the Kar-Jenner clan was in the Balmain Army era. Everyone was wearing Olivier Rousteing’s designs, except Kendall, who was wearing Versace. A little rude.
Serena Williams
Serena Williams was a longtime Met attendee, having first attended the gala in 2004, when the theme was Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the 18th Century. Serena wasn’t exactly wearing a French-style dress, but it was 2004, so who cares? Apparently Williams, not Anna Wintour, went on to host the Met Gala in 2019.
Gigi Hadid
Gigi Hadid, who made her debut in the same year as her sister, walked the Met steps for the first time in 2015. Her older sister, Gigi, was much more famous at this point (Gigi would go on to win International Model of the Year in 2016, while Bella had only just made her catwalk debut) so her Met debut was much better documented than the few uneven photos we have of Bella. The theme was China: Through the Looking Glass and Hadid wore a deep red dress by Diane von Furstenberg.
A$AP Rocky
Another interesting man to watch at the Met each year is A$AP Rocky, who you may now remember for his impressive co-pilot work with Met Gala queen Rihanna. She wore quilts and skirts and ruffled tuxedo shirts; but first in 2014, when the model wore a simple black suit and a long Topshop tuxedo jacket while attending with ex-girlfriend Chanel Iman. The significance of Topshop’s debut at the Met Gala should be explored.
Cardi B.
Cardi B has only attended four Met Galas, but in that time she’s already established herself as one of the night’s most exciting arrivals. She usually prefers tight silhouettes with wide skirts and trains, or focuses on ornaments so much that you wonder how she can even walk. For her first Met Gala, Cardi did not disappoint, arriving in custom Moschino matching the brand’s former creative designer Jeremy Scott. Magnificent, mother-of-pearl and full of embellishments, the already impressive look was completed with a sacred headdress.
Blake Lively
It may seem crazy that Blake made her Met Gala debut at the same time as Beyoncé, but this was 2008 and Gossip Girl was at the height of excitement. With the help of Serena Van Der Woodsen, Lively established herself as the style icon of the time and went to the prom. The theme was Superheroes: Fashion & Fantasy, and she wore a strapless Ralph Lauren dress with black feathers on the skirt. She didn’t exactly look like a superhero, but maybe that was the purpose of the gloves, she.
Sienna Miller
If indie sleaze becomes the theme of the Met Gala (it’s unlikely, but strange things have happened), you better believe this sequined gold Burberry minidress and black tights combination will make a resurgence. It was worn by Miller at the 2006 Met, where the theme was AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion, so Burberry was pretty much on point. The actress actually wore the Met look again in 2019 for a night out with Noel Gallagher at the Chiltern Firehouse; this may have been one of the first public re-wearings of a Met regalia ever. We are a sustainable queen.