Here are editorial highlights from the Met Gala red carpets of 2019 through 2025, including standout looks by Zendaya, Kim Kardashian, Katy Perry, Rihanna and others. “Best” is a matter of interpretation, not an official ranking: the choices below favor inventive theme readings, striking construction, historical references and theatrical impact. Each year’s dress theme drew on the Costume Institute exhibition—except 2020, when the planned gala was postponed indefinitely.
2019: Camp: Notes on Fashion
Camp invited exaggeration, artifice and wit, and some of the evening’s most memorable outfits treated the carpet as a stage. Zendaya’s Cinderella-inspired Tommy Hilfiger gown made its story explicit: stylist Law Roach joined her as a fairy godmother, turning the outfit into a transformation performance. Other vivid interpretations included Katy Perry in Moschino, Cardi B in Thom Browne, Lady Gaga in Brandon Maxwell and Billy Porter in The Blonds. Each used scale and spectacle to make a different case for what camp could look like. Vogue’s Zendaya gallery documents the Cinderella look and its staging; British Vogue’s all-time selection includes the other examples.
2020: The gala that did not happen
The planned theme was “About Time: Fashion and Duration,” an exhibition marking the Met’s 150th anniversary and examining fashion across time. The gala was postponed indefinitely during the pandemic, so there was no 2020 red carpet to include in a look-by-look comparison. The theme belongs to the exhibition plan, not to an event that took place. British Vogue’s theme history recounts the planned exhibition and postponement.
2021: In America: A Lexicon of Fashion
The 2021 exhibition turned to American fashion and the question of who gets to define “American.” Curator Andrew Bolton, Wendy Yu Curator in Charge of the Costume Institute, said: “The framework of the show enables us to focus on the younger designers who are engaging thoughtfully and deeply with those ideas.” British Vogue reports that the exhibition included over 100 pieces by American designers. That figure describes the exhibition, not the gala’s attendance or the popularity of any outfit. British Vogue’s account of the themes provides the exhibition context and quote.
#1 Best Overall
2022: In America: An Anthology of Fashion
The second part of the Met’s examination of American fashion looked back at designs and the stories of their makers. Kim Kardashian’s Jean Louis look and Kendall Jenner’s Prada offered two very different points of entry into that history: one drew attention through a recognizable garment and its association, the other through a contemporary designer’s interpretation. Both appear in British Vogue’s curated selection. The exhibition’s focus on makers and stories made provenance and reference as relevant to the theme as visual impact.
2023: Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty
Rather than a straightforward retrospective, the exhibition examined Karl Lagerfeld’s creative process through the idea of visual lines. British Vogue describes a display of 150 pieces spanning 1950 to 2019; that is an exhibition count, not a measure of red-carpet looks or audience response. The year’s selected outfits ranged from Rihanna in Valentino and Anne Hathaway in Versace to Michaela Coel in Schiaparelli and Nicole Kidman in Chanel. Their variety shows how a tribute can engage with a designer’s legacy through silhouette, material and references without converging on a single uniform look. British Vogue’s theme history explains the exhibition’s approach, and its all-time look selection includes these examples.
Rank #2
2024: Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion
The exhibition was titled “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion”; the evening’s dress code was “The Garden of Time.” Those are related but distinct: one named the exhibition, the other guided the carpet. The open-ended code allowed both floral interpretations and more literal responses to time. Zendaya made the night a study in transformation with two looks: a Maison Margiela by John Galliano ensemble and a vintage Givenchy couture look. Tyla’s Balmain hourglass-inspired outfit turned the time motif into shape, while Kim Kardashian’s Margiela offered another striking interpretation. See British Vogue’s selection and Vogue’s Zendaya gallery for credits and details.
2025: Superfine: Tailoring Black Style
The exhibition explored how sartorial dress has helped form Black identities across the Atlantic diaspora. It was the Costume Institute’s first exhibition in over two decades focused on men’s fashion, according to British Vogue. The evening’s looks showed how tailoring and personal style could carry history as well as polish: Lewis Hamilton wore Wales Bonner, Colman Domingo wore Valentino, Rihanna wore Marc Jacobs, Zendaya wore Louis Vuitton and Kim Kardashian wore Chrome Hearts. These are editorial highlights, not a definitive ranking. British Vogue’s 2025 gallery supplies the look credits.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsRank #3
References that made the theme legible
Some outfits drew on specific figures and images from Black style history. British Vogue identifies references to Diana Ross’s character Tracy Chambers in Mahogany, Josephine Baker and André Leon Talley. Recognizing those references adds another layer to the looks: they are not only formal choices but also acts of citation, bringing earlier expressions of style into conversation with the present carpet. British Vogue’s reference guide identifies the allusions. The exhibition also builds on Monica L. Miller’s book, Monica L. Miller’s Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, as British Vogue notes in its theme history.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to compare the looks across years
A look’s impact depends partly on the question it answers. To compare outfits from different themes without pretending there is an objective winner, consider:
Rank #4
- Theme interpretation: Does the outfit make its connection to the dress code clear, or does it suggest a less literal reading?
- Silhouette and material: What do proportion, shape and fabric contribute to the effect?
- Construction: What details in the credited description reveal about the garment’s making?
- Reference: Does the look cite a historical figure, cultural tradition, film or designer’s legacy?
- Carpet presence: Does performance, staging or theatrical scale change how the outfit is understood?
These questions help explain why a look resonates; they do not produce a single, evidence-based “best” for each year. British Vogue’s descriptions of memorable Met Gala fashion usefully encompass the performative, subversive, witty and referential.
Quick Recap
Best Value
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
