The best red carpet fashions from Met Gala 2024

By Valli Herman

Photography by

May 6, 2024 Updated 6:44 PM PT

In certain circles, the words “the first Monday in May” and “the Met Gala” have become synonymous with a parade of the most glorious, outrageous couture fashion worn by a hand-selected slice of innovators and image makers.

The event is also the annual fundraiser for New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute and signals the launch of an annual exhibition. This year’s, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” features about 250 items from the Costume Institute’s permanent collection.

The dress code for the 2024 gala is “The Garden of Time,” taken from a dystopian 1962 short story by J.G. Ballard that uses a garden as a metaphor for cycles of human creation and destruction. So expect some goth garden wear and lots of florals on black backgrounds.

Last year’s gala, in honor of Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld, hauled in a reported $22 million and reams of coverage of attendees such as Doja Cat and Jared Leto, both of whom dressed as Lagerfeld’s Persian cat Choupette.

Many attribute the gala’s success to its organizer of more than two decades, the powerful Anna Wintour, who as global editorial director of Condé Nast and editor in chief of Vogue has long been a force in creating international celebrities. Wintour controls who is invited to the invitation-only event.

The gala earns outsize interest partly because its guest list isn’t revealed until the night before and the activities inside the museum gala are also kept secret (thanks to a no cellphones policy).

Yet the event also draws attention to the exhibition, which this year highlights the importance of museum fashion collections and their conservation. “Sleeping Beauties” refers to the delicate garments that will be taken from their temperature-controlled, acid-free tissue nests to come to life in new ways in the museum galleries — but not on mannequins. Using a range of technologies such as X-rays, artificial intelligence, video animation and soundscapes, the curators are reanimating garments that will never be worn again.

Or shouldn’t be. One might consider the exhibit a subtle rebuke to Kim Kardashian, who in 2022 wore — and likely ruined — the fragile gown Marilyn Monroe wore to sing to President John F. Kennedy in 1962. If stylists, celebrities and socialites heed the message to let sleeping beauties lie, then important, historic clothing has a better chance of preservation for future generations.

Ayo Edebiri blooms in a backless, floor-length sweep of floral embellishment, designed by Jonathan Anderson for Loewe. (Evan Agostini / Invision / Associated Press)

Dan Levy, who is always good for some levity, wears a Loewe ensemble that flows from serious, solid black on top to all-over fun floral toward the jacket’s hem and along the trousers. (Evan Agostini / Invision / Associated Press)

Tyla attends The 2024 Met Gala Celebrating "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Singer-songwriter Tyla took the “Garden of Time” theme to its literal extreme with her Balmain dress made of sculpted sand, accessorized with an hourglass clutch. (Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images)

If you love visual puns, you’ll love how “Challengers” star Josh O’Connor wears a tailcoat with extended “tails” that drag the carpet. His low-heel, floral booties are likely the envy of every woman in heels. (Kevin Mazur / MG24 / Getty Images for the Met Museum / Vogue)

Steven Yeun’s character in “Beef” wouldn’t recognize himself on the Met’s carpet. He’s wearing a custom Thom Browne three-piece suit cut from a jacquard fabric with a pattern of ravens and roses. (Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images)

Met Gala Co-chair Bad Bunny wears a suit with the tailor’s basting stitches still visible, a hallmark of Maison Margiela, now designed by John Galliano. The Puerto Rican singer carries a bouquet, a nod to the gala’s floral dress code. (Evan Agostini / Invision / Associated Press)

Designer Thom Browne is having a great showing at this year’s Met Gala, even dressing Ben Simmons of the Brooklyn Nets in a customized version of a look from the designer’s fall 2024 collection. The clock handbag brings home the “Garden of Time” theme. (Evan Agostini / Invision / Associated Press)

Director Baz Luhrmann and his wife, Catherine Martin

Teyana Taylor, the actor and singer-songwriter who contributed vocals to Kanye West’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” wears a red-on-red look that could be described similarly. (Evan Agostini / Invision / Associated Press)

Maleah Joi Moon, star of Broadway’s Alicia Keys musical “Hell’s Kitchen,” knows how to make an entrance with her Collina Strada gown and its extra-long train. (Evan Agostini / Invision / Associated Press )

Designer Willy Chavarria and former Saks Chief Executive Marc Metrick

Jack Harlow makes a convincing argument for a new tone of tuxedo — dove gray, a signature color of its maker, the house of Dior. (Kevin Mazur / MG24 / Getty Images for the Met Museum / Vogue)

Donald Glover shows how the colors of rich earth — peat moss brown and tan clay — work in a fluid, double-breasted 1990s-style suit with wide trouser legs and the era’s wide tie, all by Saint Laurent’s Anthony Vaccarello. (Evan Agostini / Invision / Associated Press )

Mindy Kaling attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala.

Mindy Kaling’s tawny Gaurav Gupta gown with a gazillion gathers and a ginormous back bow makes her look like the fairy godmother we always knew she could be. (John Shearer / WireImage; Evan Agostini / Invision / Associated Press)

From left, Zoe Saldana, Emma Mackey, Greta Gerwig, Chemena Kamali and Sienna Miller

Eddie Redmayne has long flirted with his feminine side by wearing sheer and floaty fabrics; he does the same here with a layered look of black and geometric appliqués that resemble insect wings. (Evan Agostini / Invision / Associated Press )

Sultry star and Fendi Men’s ambassador Nicholas Galitzine wears, of course, a Fendi black wool fitted jacket with floral embroidery and satin lapels. (Evan Agostini / Invision / Associated Press )

The best red carpet fashions from Met Gala 2024, ‘The Garden of Time’

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