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We couldn’t possibly discuss the history of the Met gala without delving into its red carpet highlights, which include some of the biggest moments of recent fashion history, from Kim Kardashian West’s waist-whittling latex Thierry Mugler dress from 2019 to Rihanna in couturier Guo Pei’s show-stopping cape in 2015.
Speaking of fashion, Andrew Bolton, the museum’s Wendy Yu Curator in Charge of the Costume Institute, has taken the exhibitions to new heights. Recent exhibitions have focused on everything from the work of designer Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel to punk and the fashion of 18th-century France. This year’s exhibition, “About Time: Fashion and Duration,” celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Met. The exhibition, which is slated to open on October 29, will examine the ways the Costume Institute’s holdings have inspired designers like Nicholas Ghesquière, John Galliano, and Edith Head, since it was founded a century ago.
This year, we may not be commemorating the first Monday in May in the same way—but we can certainly look back on its illustrious history.
Edited by: Charlie Denholm
Starring: Hamish Bowles
Additional Edit: Dylan Blau
Photo Research: Landon Phillips, Tim Herzog
Vogue Video Team: Kimberly Arms, Max Bartick, Rachel Cantor, Marina Cukeric, Anna Page Nadin, Naomi Nishi, Robert Semmer, Sam Sussman, Maya Tanaka, Emily Yates
Post Production Manager: Marco Glinblizzi
Archive: Annie Leibovitz / Vogue, Arthur Elgort / Vogue, Bert Stern / Vogue, Condé Nast Archives, Corey Tenold / Vogue, Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, David Bailey / Vogue, Eric Boman / Conde Nast, Ernst Beadle / Vogue, Evan Sung / Vogue, Frances McLaughlin-Gill / Vogue, Francesco Scavullo / Vogue, Gianni Penati / Vogue, Hannah Thomson / Vogue, Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos, Harry Benson / Vogue, Herb Ritts / Vogue, Horst P. Horst / Vogue, Irving Penn / Vogue, Michael Lisnet / Vogue, The New York Times Archives, Richard Rutledge / Glamour, Richard Rutledge / Vogue, Robert Fairer / Vogue, Steven Meisel / Vogue, Taylor Jewell / Vogue
What Celebrities Wore to Their First Met Gala: