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Tag Archives: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Realism Returns: The Resurgence of Traditional Art Skills in the Digital Age
“It comes down to reality,” Billy Joel sings in “New York State of Mind.” Indeed, slowly but surely over recent decades, realist art has bounced back into the mainstream. This resurgence follows a long period in which paintings and sculptures with identifiable subject matter—works that reflect what humans actually see in the world—were widely dismissed. In tandem, the rise of the digital era diminished the value once placed on traditional art skills. But that tide is turning.
Unlike abstract art, representational art depicts recognizable subjects from the real world, such as landscapes or figures. The work might be executed in a wide range of styles, from impressionism to photorealism, medieval religious iconography to Salvador Dalí’s surreal scenes. It is sometimes called realist or figurative art, though “realism” also refers to a specific, detailed, lifelike approach to representational imagery.
More narrowly defined, “Realism” is often viewed as the first modern art movement. It emerged in France in the 1840s as a rejection of traditional forms of art and literature deemed obsolete in the wake of the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. The movement emphasized humanism and real-world subjects, displacing religious or mythological themes, and revolutionized painting in the process.
The realist rebound began in the 1960s against the dominating background of Abstract Expressionism. In the 1970s, Photorealists such as Chuck Close and Richard Estes helped refocus attention on technical skill. In the 1980s, more expressive realist work created by artists like Odd Nerdrum attracted notice, and by the 1990s, prominent institutions were taking note and ateliers such as the Florence Academy revived classical drawing and painting techniques, cementing a renewed interest in traditional foundations.
Evidence of realism’s revival is now widespread from magazine coverage, gallery exhibitions and efforts of competitive art organizations such as the Art Renewal Center (ARC) and the Bennett Prize, administered by the Pittsburgh Foundation. These institutions spotlight work that combines the highest level of technical achievement and conceptual sophistication. A new generation of successful contemporary realist painters, including Roberto Ferri, Nick Alm, Jeremy Lipking, Ali Cavanaugh and April Gornik, has further elevated the movement.
Although realist art never disappeared from major institutions, those institutions are now more visibly reflecting the trend. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, for example, has recently mounted exhibitions of realist work, including most recently “Caspar David Friedrich: The Soul of Nature” and “Sargent and Paris.” Internationally, the movement is also seen in exhibitions like “Realism Now” at the European Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona.
But why now? In a moment seemingly dominated by digital and A.I.-generated art, some attribute realism’s resurgence to a broader cultural embrace of conservative values or to a post-pandemic desire for tangible human connection. Yet the revival of realism began well before these recent shifts. While these may be contributing factors, there are deeper reasons for the rebound. At its core, realist art offers a kind of pleasure and fulfillment that is increasingly rare. The best contemporary realist art provides a gratifying connection to the world as we perceive it. These works feel unmistakably human, not only in their subject matter and planning but also in their execution. They are shaped by the artist’s hand, their movement and their eye. That sense of human touch is something we continue to seek out.
The art market, too, has taken notice. Realist paintings have been fetching high prices at auction and earning praise from critics. René Magritte’s L’empire des lumières sold for $121 million at Christie’s in November 2024, breaking records as the highest Surrealist work sold at auction. At the same time, the range and diversity of realist art has broadened to encompass more styles.
As Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine observed in 2024, covering the ”Realism Now” exhibition in Barcelona: “Realism is a plural movement, a territory with as many paths as there are artists who traverse it.” There is space for digital and A.I.-generated art, each requiring its own skill set. But human-produced realist art will never disappear. In fact, it may be more essential than ever.
Much of realism’s strengths lie in its foundation in classical technique, and access to that training has never been greater. As U.S. Art News reported in September 2024, there has been a revival in classical art instruction, with choices ranging from formal programs at schools such as the Florence Academy, online instruction from top teachers and private mentorship from master artists.
Classical art training emphasizes technical proficiency, drawing heavily on fundamental principles such as line, shape, value and form. Students engage in rigorous study through life drawing, anatomical study and constructive sketching. Today’s realist artists are building on these foundations while exploring new techniques and materials to capture the details and textures of real life. Some artists are incorporating digital tools alongside the more traditional materials such as oil paint, acrylics and charcoal. Today’s prominent artists known for blending traditional techniques with digital art include David Hockney and Jordan Nassar.
Collectors—whether seasoned or casual—often find the skill involved in realism immediately legible. As an Art and Object anecdote recounted, one viewer put it simply: “I know that guy was a genius, but sometimes I want to know if it’s good artwork just by looking at it.”
Realism has developed into many divergent paths, both stylistically and thematically. Photorealism often showcases sheer technical virtuosity, while other realist works, like those by April Gornik, aim to evoke deeply emotional responses. Some realist art emerged in contrast to the preceding Romanticism era, which often idealized its subjects. That approach frequently included in its scope what the artist saw as the rawness and sorrow of everyday life. Over the years, other forms of realist works leaned more heavily into didactic and critical commentaries on the current culture.
Realism’s appeal, in the end, may lie in its capacity to evolve—remaining grounded in traditional skill while expanding to reflect the complexities of the present moment. In an era of increasing digital abstraction, that human touch remains uniquely compelling.
Despite Quiet Bidding, Christie’s Evening Sales Brought in $489M
The marquee auctions may not have opened with much excitement—especially if this week is meant to test the pulse of the market—but Christie’s highly anticipated sale of the Leonard & Louise Riggio Collection and its 20th Century Evening auction proceeded with muted bidding and minimal risk, ultimately delivering solid results: a combined $489 million total, with 99 percent sold by lot and 98 percent by value across both sales.
Guarantees and irrevocable bids were clearly doing the heavy lifting last night, with more than half the lots already locked in by hefty third-party backing. Notably, despite the auction week kicking off just a day after the U.S. and China agreed to suspend their reciprocal, absurdly high tariffs that almost resulted in a trade embargo, bidding from Asia was largely absent; most works ultimately went to buyers in the U.S. or Europe.
SEE ALSO: Ten Highlights From New York’s Spring Marquee Auctions
The evening opened with thirty-seven lots from the collection of Barnes & Noble founder Leonard Riggio and his wife, Louise, the longtime chair of Dia Art Foundation. To secure what proved to be the most significant consignment of the past 12 months, Christie’s played it safe, offering the estate an undisclosed guarantee and mitigating risk through irrevocable bids and third-party backers. The strategy paid off: the sale achieved a solid 97 percent sell-through rate, totaling $272 million against a $252-326 million estimate. Yet in practice, most of the lots appeared to follow the script, with top works landing discreetly on the phone with Alex Rotter, recently named global chairman, while saleroom activity remained notably subdued.
This was true even for one of the evening’s stars: Piet Mondrian’s Composition No. III, with Red, Blue, Yellow, and Black (1929), a rare square composition of exceptional quality and one of the few of its kind not already held by a museum. Starting at $34 million, it hammered swiftly on Rotter’s phone for $41 million ($47.6 million with fees), falling shy of Mondrian’s previous $51 million auction record. A similar fate befell René Magritte’s L’empire des lumières, a coveted example from the artist’s most sought-after series. Despite its distinguished provenance (formerly owned by both the Rockefellers before the Riggio family) it attracted only a few incremental bids, selling once again via Rotter’s phone line for $31 million hammer ($34.9 million with fees), the same price it achieved at Christie’s last year. The result paled in comparison to the $121.1 million fetched by Maja Hoffmann’s larger version from the same series in November, which set a record for both Magritte and any Surrealist work at auction. Both the Mondrian and the Magritte were almost certainly absorbed by their guarantors—an outcome Rotter neatly summed up as “the art market in the real world.”
Across the board, most works landed within estimate ranges or slightly below when measured by hammer price rather than premium-inclusive totals. The first lot to hit the block from the Riggio collection was a compelling Portrait de jeune homme by Balthus, previously on view at MoMA. Starting at $1.5 million, it climbed with minimal momentum to $2.7 million hammer ($3.34 million with fees), settling midway within its estimate. That pattern held through many of the sale’s elegant Giacometti sculptures. Le Couple, a lifetime bronze cast formerly shown at MoMA, opened at $2 million and hammered quickly at $3.5 million with Giovanna Bertazzoni on the phone. The standout Femme de Venise sold briskly in the room for $15 million ($17.66 million with fees), again landing squarely within its $15-17 million estimate only once the premium was factored in. The psychologically charged Annette Nu dans l’atelier also barely scraped its low estimate at $7 million hammer ($8.46 million with fees). All three Giacomettis were backed by third-party guarantees, which was likely a key factor in securing their sales.
A rare burst of energy came with Picasso’s vibrant portrait of Lee Miller, which made its auction debut and achieved $28 million after fees. Otherwise, the remainder of the Riggio trove—including works with museum provenance and strong exhibition history—proceeded predictably, generally meeting expectations and closing to estimates only once premiums were counted. Magritte’s Les droits de l’homme sold for $15.9 million (estimate: $15-20 million), while Rothko’s moody Untitled closed with minimal bidding just above its low estimate at $8.46 million with fees. Fernand Léger’s Les trois personnages devant le jardin, a close sibling to a version held by the Met, sold for $8.1 million with premium, only slightly above the low end of its estimate. A monumental Barbara Hepworth, acquired directly from the artist’s estate, also stuck to the center of its range at $8 million, while Warhol’s electric blue Last Supper sold quietly for $7.07 million on the phone with Christie’s head of advisory.
By the end of the evening, enthusiasm had noticeably thinned. Less desirable lots slipped well below expectations—including a more challenging work like Stan Douglas’s A Luta Continua (1974), which sold for just $12,600 with fees against a $60,000-80,000 estimate, and Ed Ruscha’s Johnny Tomorrow, which hammered at $800,000, falling short of its $1.5 million estimate even after fees. On the more contemporary end of the spectrum, the few artists included in the trove just barely scraped past their low estimates once premiums were added. The two Kerry James Marshall works sold for $3,801,000 and $2,591,000, respectively, while the museum-quality Glenn Ligon—despite being previously featured in the Whitney Biennial—encountered thin bidding and closed at $2,833,000 with fees, against its $2.5-3.5 million estimate.
A similar trend continued in the second half of the night with the 37-lot 20th Century Evening Sale, which closed with white-glove results, achieving a $217 million total and 100 percent sold by value, but only after the sudden withdrawal of one of the top lots, Andy Warhol’s Big Electric Chair (1967-68), which likely failed to find a buyer due to its challenging subject matter, particularly for such high (undisclosed) asking price in the region of $30 million.
The sale opened with nine top-tier abstract works from the estate of Anne Bass. Here, too, guarantees and irrevocable bids played a central role, not only in securing the prestigious consignment but in ensuring solid results, most often within estimate. The first lot, Gino Severini’s Danseuse, with its dynamism of forms and colors and all the energies of futurism, successfully brought a flash of excitement to the room, landing after a flurry of bidding at $2.6 million ($3,196,000 after premium), squeaking by its $2.5 million high estimate. Momentum continued with Alexander Calder’s elegant white mobile, which achieved $8.46 million with fees—just over its $8 million top estimate.
Several works followed the same tight trajectory. Morris Louis brought in $2.47 million, the first of Frank Stella’s Itata paintings reached $7.07 million and two Agnes Martins sold within expectations at $4.89 million and $1.62 million, respectively. Even the stunning Ellsworth Kelly abstract composition sold almost instantly for $3.7 million with premium, most likely landing with its guarantor. More surprising was the muted reception for the evening’s centerpiece, Rothko’s vibrating purple painting from 1952—also exhibited in MoMA’s historic “15 Americans” show—which hammered at $32.5 million, under its on-request estimate of $35 million. Only after buyer’s premium did it reach $37.79 million, technically clearing expectations but hardly commanding the room.
One of the few lots to spark genuine competition was Frank Stella’s Firuzabad III (1970), a large shaped canvas of two interlocking circles. After an energetic battle between four phone bidders, it hammered at $2.7 million ($3.37 million with fees), well above its $2 million high estimate. But the evening’s most sustained bidding war came later with Claude Monet’s Peupliers au bord de l’Epte, crépuscule, which, after more than five minutes of tense back-and-forth between phones, hammered at $37 million ($42.96 million with fees), setting a new record for the artist’s Peupliers series. The work—offered for the first time after being owned by the same family for three generations—had been on long-term loan to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
SEE ALSO: Maria Brito On Why Smart Collectors Are Still Buying—and What They’re Skipping
Elsewhere, Gerhard Richter’s moody Korsika landscape defied its grey tones to achieve a bright result: $15.25 million, well above its $9-12 million estimate. The sale also underscored collectors’ growing enthusiasm for visionary surrealists: Dorothea Tanning’s uncanny Endgame brought $2.35 million (estimate: $1-1.5 million) and Remedios Varo’s Revelación (El relojero) hit $6.22 million, setting a new auction record for the artist. Near the close, a surprise came with Franz von Stuck’s Die Sünde, which doubled expectations to reach $604,800. Previously held in the collection of the Prince of Serbia, the work achieved a new record for a work on paper by the Successionist artist.
Still, not all was sunny. In the latter portion of the sale, some works fell well short of expectations. Lucio Fontana’s cosmic Concetto spaziale, In piazza San Marco di notte con Teresita—a glittering combination of glass and paint—sold for $7.54 million, less than half of the $14 million it brought at auction in 2017. Whether this signals a shift in fortune for the Argentinian artist or simply a too-ambitious estimate, the spotlight now turns to Fine di Dio, a radiant gold canvas from Daniella Luxembourg’s collection, which will test Fontana’s market again at Sotheby’s on May 14.
Overall, the first night of auction week confirmed what insiders already suspected: the market is a long way from its once-upon-a-time fireworks. With caution in the air, auction houses are playing it safer and smarter, leaning on strategy and heavy guarantees to offset risk and keep the spectacle alive. The show continues tonight, May 13, with Sotheby’s Modern Evening Auction and Phillips’ Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale.
From Storage to Spotlight: How D.C.’s National Gallery Is Redefining Access to Art
Angelica Daneo, chief curator at the Denver Art Museum, calls Rembrandt “one of the most celebrated artists of the 1600s” and an artist who “played a pivotal role in the development of European Art,” but until recently, residents of the Mile High City weren’t able to actually see any of his paintings unless they traveled somewhere else. The artist created close to 300 paintings during his career, but not every museum has one. Fortunately for Denver residents, that situation has been rectified—for two years, at least—thanks to the newly established Across the Nation program at Washington, D.C.’s National Gallery of Art that is lending works from its permanent collection to smaller and mid-sized museums around the United States.
The goal of the program is to share artworks from the National Gallery’s permanent collection with museums, many of which are in rural areas and mostly in western states that do not have pieces of this caliber to display in their communities. Ten museums (the Anchorage Museum in Alaska, the Boise Art Museum in Idaho, the Denver Art Museum in Colorado, the Figge Art Museum in Iowa, the Flint Institute of Arts in Michigan, the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina, the New Britain Museum of Art in Connecticut, the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art in Salt Lake City, the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, Washington and the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno) are part of the first round of loans, with more expected in the coming years.
“We have so much to offer; our collection is here for the nation, and we felt that we were missing an opportunity to share with more people,” Kate Haw, officer for programs, exhibitions and audience engagement at the National Gallery of Art, told Observer. “Many people may not be able to come to Washington to see the collection here on our campus. While we welcome four million visitors a year and lend very generously to special exhibitions and museums around the country and around the world, we felt that we could be doing more for the nation in communities. And, as we are the National Museum, we really wanted to be more proactive about how we shared.”
SEE ALSO: Why Provenance Is Still the Art World’s Blind Spot
The National Gallery’s curators put together a list of 700 American and European artworks from its collection, representing paintings and photographs—some dating back to the 15th century. The Flemish artist Hans Memling was sent to the Flint Institute of Arts, along with works by Sandro Botticelli and Andy Warhol, while others received 19th- and 20th-century French works (paintings by Henri Matisse, Auguste Renoir and Paul Cezanne went to the Whatcom Museum) and Modernist pieces (the Anchorage Museum was lent paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe, Mark Rothko and Nancy Graves, and the Nevada Museum of Art received seventy photographs by Dorothea Lange).
“The Nevada Museum of Art organized an exhibition called ‘Sagebrush and Solitude: Maynard Dixon in Nevada’ in 2024,” Ann M. Wolfe, senior curator and deputy director at the museum, told Observer. Dixon was a painter “married to Dorothea Lange, and we wanted to follow up the Dixon exhibition with a Lange exhibition.” The National Gallery of Art has a large number of photographs by Lange, and it offered to share the trove with the Nevada Museum of Art. “The partnership has been a great opportunity to work with the National Gallery.”
All 700 artworks offered through the Across the Nation program were in storage, which meant it didn’t matter if you were in D.C.—you wouldn’t have been able to see them anyway. Pulling the pieces out of storage solved two problems: how to ensure there’s always room in the art vault and how to honor the museum’s collected works. The National Gallery made their offer more attractive by taking on the expense of crating, shipping and insuring the artworks they were lending. For their part, the borrowing museums needed to demonstrate that they had adequate conservation, proper climate controls and the ability to physically protect the works. Some staff members were invited to come to the National Gallery for training.
The largest museums have massive collections that are kept in storage and rarely make it to the exhibition galleries—the Met in New York has two million objects, while the Art Institute of Chicago has north of 300,000, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has roughly 450,000 and MoMA has around 200,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, media and performance artworks, architectural models and drawings, design objects and films, in addition to approximately two million film stills. In many cases, works are off view for good reason: some pieces are fragile and risky to pack and move or even display. “Many objects need to ‘rest,’” Charity Counts, executive director of the Association of Midwest Museums, told Observer. “It’s not wise to have something on display for an extended period that could fade from light exposure, for example.”
But other objects remain in storage because museum curators choose not to put them on display. They may have enough Renoirs on display, or the Renoirs in their galleries are better examples of the artist’s work than those in storage. In decades past, donors unloaded large numbers of artworks onto museums with conditions that pieces could not be sold, lent or traded away, and the museum curators and directors of the past often accepted a whole lot of material—some of which may have been misattributed or forgeries—because there was one gem in the pile that they really wanted. (Today’s museum officials are much less likely to accept donations that include conditions and find ways to cherry-pick what they really want.)
Museums try not to be static in their displays, swapping artworks and other items from their galleries with those in storage in order to broaden their story of the history of art, as well as lending pieces to other institutions that are organizing special exhibits. But that still leaves a great many objects owned by museums stuck in storage, probably never to see the light of day.
As to why more of the country’s major museums aren’t loaning out more works, consider that lending artworks from a museum’s permanent collection is not without risks. Jonathan Stuhlman, senior curator of American art at the Mint Museum, told Observer that loans may produce “wear-and-tear on the object. You wonder, do the people borrowing these works know how to care for them?” Additionally, lending art generates costs because facilitating loans requires back-end work on both sides and institutions have to hire a registrar to keep track of where pieces are and when they are due back.
Selecting the artworks to lend also takes time and effort, according to Haw. “We went into the collection, looked at works that didn’t have any sort of restrictions from donors or any other conditions making them too fragile to lend.” After the group of 700 works was identified, curators at the National Gallery sought out their counterparts at smaller institutions around the country, allowing them to choose works from across our collections. “They were the ones who dictated. We did not dictate what went to whom,” she clarified.
Museums frequently lend works to other museums, and special exhibitions at institutions usually consist of objects that were borrowed from a variety of other museums in the U.S. and elsewhere. “The Met lends to museums of all sizes throughout the country, as part of its active and ongoing outgoing loans program,” according to a spokeswoman. Washington, D.C.’s Smithsonian Institution works with more than 200 museums and libraries around the country to coordinate loans of objects for special shows, and the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas established a similar program, Art Bridges, which expands access to collections by facilitating long-term loans and traveling exhibitions between museums of all sizes. The Chicago-based Terra Foundation has its own loan program, offering works from its American art collection for special exhibits.
What distinguishes the National Gallery’s Across the Nation program is that its loans are not pegged to specific exhibitions but instead are intended to enhance or fill in gaps in permanent exhibits. Works by noted artists bring in visitors. “Renoir, Matisse, Cezanne, we don’t have that kind of work and that kind of name recognition in our museum,” Amy Chaloupka, chief curator at the Whatcom Museum, told Observer. “People are drawn to the museum when they see those names.”
The Across the Nation program could not have happened at a better time, Kahla Woodling DeSmit, executive director of the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums, told Observer. “Previously, federal agencies like the Institute for Museums and Library Services and the National Endowment for the Humanities would provide funding support for exhibitions and would often help address these costs,” she said. “However, under the current administration, many of these grants have been terminated within the last month, leaving many museums and cultural institutions concerned that their planned exhibitions may never open or that they’ll have to shoulder expenses that were once covered by federal grants.”
At the Met: The culture of the Black dandy
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31 iconic Met Gala looks from the best-dressed guests since 1973
After the Met Gala returned Monday in New York City, here’s a look back at some of the most iconic outfits from the best dressed stars, like recent darlings Zendaya and Rihanna and all the way back to the early years.
Zendaya’s first and second look, 2024 Met Gala
(L) Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue, (R) Aliah Anderson/Getty Images
Zendaya has become a favorite at the Met Gala, and last year she was a co-chair, alongside Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Hemsworth and, of course, Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour. The night’s theme was “Sleeping Beauties: Fashion Reawakened,” and the dress code was “Garden of Time.”
The “Dune” and “Euphoria” star opened the evening in an ocean blue gown by Maison Margiela with fitted a corset and layers of metallic fabric, styled with a feather headpiece and smokey makeup.
Then hours later, she made a surprise return on the red carpet with a second look. She appeared in a never-before-worn Givenchy couture gown from the 1996 collection — the year she was born — along with a vintage Alexander McQueen hat adorned with a bouquet of roses.
“When it comes to the Met carpet, Zendaya is all about keeping us guessing-but one thing is for certain: She will always turn heads. Clearly, she did it again tonight,” Vogue’s Senior Fashion and Style Writer Christian Allaire wrote of her back-to-back looks.
Bad Bunny pays homage to Puerto Rico, 2024 Met Gala
Dia Dipasupil / Getty Images
Fellow co-chair Bad Bunny also turned heads last year in a custom ensemble from the Maison Margiela Artisanal Collection.
He wore a navy smoking jacket with red and white stitching, topped with a large beret and gold sunglasses.
The Puerto Rican artist arrived on the red carpet carrying a floral bouquet made from the same fabric as his jacket. The blooms represented the flor de maga — the national flower of Puerto Rico — along with roses and the flax plant that Sleeping Beauty pricked her finger on in the fairy tale.
His backless, all-white look from 2023, honoring late designer Karl Lagerfeld, also gets an honorable mention on the list.
Tyla’s sand dress, 2024 Met Gala
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Tyla stopped the show at her inaugural Met Gala in a strapless dress made of sand. The look was so formfitting, she had to be carried up the Met’s iconic steps.
The Balmain design was made up of three colors of sand and crystal studs.
“We were looking to do something creative, something completely different for my first Met Gala,” the singer and songwriter told Vogue ahead of the event. “So when Balmain showed me the idea and sketch, I just knew it was perfect. The idea was crazy, and I loved it.”
She also carried an hourglass clutch in a nod to “the sands of time.”
Michaela Coel dripping in gold, 2023 Met Gala
ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images
Michaela Coel was a co-chair for the 2023 Met Gala and she dazzled in a floor-length gown by Schiaparelli that was covered in crystals, accompanied by a large diamond necklace and chunky gold earrings.
The “I May Destroy You” creator’s skin was glowing, with the help of makeup artist Bernicia Boateng, who told Vogue she “wanted her skin to beam and almost speak for her.”
“Anna [Wintour] has been a real champion of me, she put me on the cover of American Vogue,” Coel said in a behind-the-scenes interview as she got ready for the gala. “She said that I am not afraid to be myself… and that’s why she asked me to co-chair.”
Her fellow co-chairs included Penélope Cruz, Roger Federer and Dua Lipa.
Doja Cat goes full cat, 2023 Met Gala
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Love it or hate it, Doja Cat did not hold back for the 2023 Met Gala. It was her first time attending, and she fully embraced — and embodied — the theme, dressing up as Karl Lagerfeld’s beloved cat, a Burmese named Choupette.
Doja Cat wore an Oscar de la Renta gown with cat ears on the hood and a large diamond that dangled in front of her forehead. To complete her cat transformation, her makeup featured black cat eyeliner and made her nose look more cat-like.
The Grammy winner famously stayed in character for her red carpet interview, answering every question with “meow.”
Choupette, who Lagerfeld reportedly received as a gift from French model Baptiste Giabiconi, has her own Instagram account with more than a quarter million followers.
Blake Lively’s NYC inspired gown, 2022 Met Gala
Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images
Blake Lively has been gracing the Met Gala for more than a decade, and she ramped up the drama in recent years. She wore a stunning Atelier Versace gown for the 2022 Met Gala, drawing inspiration from New York City landmarks to fit the theme “In America: An Anthology of Fashion.”
Lively made an entrance on The Met steps worthy of her “Gossip Girl” character Serena Van Der Woodsen. Her first look featured a metallic bodice and bow inspired by the Manhattan skyline and Empire State Building, then it transformed into a long blue-green train based on Grand Central’s constellation ceiling. She also wore a seven-tier crown to symbolize the Statue of Liberty.
Husband Ryan Reynolds was by her side to co-chair the event in a black velvet tuxedo by Ralph Lauren.
Lively also made the best-dressed list with another Versace gown at the 2018 Met Gala in a jeweled bodice and detailed embroidery, paired with a halo headpiece.
Lil Nas X’s big reveal, 2021 Met Gala
Photo by John Shearer/WireImage
Speaking of epic entrances, Lil Nas X put on a show at the 2021 Met Gala with three distinct looks from Donatella Versace.
He started in a large, gold cape that was then removed to reveal a golden suit of armor underneath, which he later shed to show off a crystal-covered body suit.
The fashion house called it a “three-part LGBTQ+ American fairytale.” The cape was meant to conceal his identity, the armor symbolized protection against prejudice, and finally the body suit represented “living life as your true, unguarded self.”
The artist is known for his daring fashion choices, including his purple prom look at the MTV Awards just days before.
Iman’s latest iconic look, 2021 Met Gala
Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Nobody does it quite like Iman. The supermodel has worn so many iconic looks over the years, but the 2021 Met Gala will go down as one of her best.
Her outfit from Harris Reed, supported by Dolce & Gabbana, featured a gold strapless jumpsuit under a massive hoop skirt and matching headpiece made of feathers.
Reed told Vogue they were inspired by 18th-century hooped cage skirts that could “take up space in a way that says, ‘I deserve to be here and I own it.'”
Iman first attended the Met Gala in 1981 with Calvin Klein and later appeared alongside her husband and fellow fashion icon, David Bowie.
Maluma’s red leather suit, 2021 Met Gala
Kevin Mazur/MG21/Getty Images For The Met Museum/Vogue
Maluma was the first reggaetón artist to attend the Met Gala when he made his debut in 2019 and he continues to push the envelope.
He joined Donatella Versace for the 2021 Met Gala in a red-hot leather suit with bejeweled accents and accessories.
“My favorite part of my outfit was everything,” Maluma told Vogue. “I loved the cowboy inspiration, as I ride horses, but the highlight was the belt… It was a signature Versace cowboy belt inspired by the late Gianni Versace’s classic ’90s looks.”
He also wore a 14-karat gold chain link glove with his nickname, Papi Juancho, written in stones.
Zendaya’s light-up Cinderella look, 2019 Met Gala
Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
First, there was Joan of Arc in 2018. Then, her Cinderella gown was among the highlights of the wacky and weird 2019 Met Gala, “Camp: Notes on Fashion.”
With the wave of a wand from her stylist and fairy godfather Law Roach, the dress lit up The Met steps, literately. It magically changed from gray to blue, prompting a large cheer from the crowd.
Roach said the gown, by Tommy Hilfiger, represented Zendaya’s transformation from the Disney Channel to “Euphoria” and more adult roles.
As for last year’s looks, he said Zendaya wasn’t even fitted until Saturday, two days before the big event.
“I haven’t seen Zendaya’s dress!” he told The New York Times in an interview ahead of time. “We’ve been on two press tours – ‘Dune 2’ and ‘Challengers’ – and doing two Vogue covers.”
Time to work their Met Gala magic once again.
Kardashian family photo, 2019 Met Gala
Photo by Dia Dipasupil/FilmMagic
The Kardashians walked The Met steps together for the 2019 Met Gala and posed for an epic family photo.
Kim Kardashian donned a skin-tight corset dress from Thierry Mugler that looked as though she had just emerged from water. She was accompanied by her then-husband Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.
Her sisters, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, wore coordinated sheer Versace dresses embellished with bright orange and purple feathers, respectively. Kylie was joined by her on-again-off-again boyfriend, Travis Scott.
And of course it wouldn’t be a Kardashian photo-op without mom, Kris Jenner. She had on a navy blue Tommy Hilfiger jumpsuit with oversized gray shoulders, plus a platinum blonde wig that was reportedly a last-minute suggestion from Kylie.
The Kardashian sisters have been known for some hit-or-miss looks over the years, including Kim’s infamous “black-out” look in 2021.
Billy Porter goes for gold, 2019 Met Gala
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Oh Billy Porter, where to begin. His 2019 Met Gala look was one for the ages.
Porter entered the event lounging on a platform carried by six shirtless men. He then climbed down to spread a pair of giant, golden wings.
In a behind-the-scenes interview before the big reveal, he told Vogue that “Camp” is often discounted or “thought of as cheesy,” but, “when it’s done properly, it’s one of the highest forms of fashion and art.”
Porter enlisted New York City-based brand The Blonds to design the Ancient Egypt-inspired look.
“Given the massive collection of Egyptian art The Met has, it was also our way to pay respect to that,” he said.
Lady Gaga’s many looks, 2019 Met Gala
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Before Lil Nas X and Blake Lively pulled off multiple outfits, Lady Gaga was the original shapeshifter at the 2019 Met Gala. It was almost like the star was born to take on the theme.
Lady Gaga rocked four different looks all designed by her friend, Brandon Maxwell. First, she arrived in a massive pink dress with a 25-foot train and five dancers carrying umbrellas. As she entered The Met steps, her team unzipped the cape to reveal another black gown underneath.
Then she unveiled another pink dress paired with large black sunglasses, appearing to apply makeup and pose for selfies. And finally, she shed that dress and stripped down to a black bra, panties, stockings and boots.
The whole theatrical performance lasted about 15 minutes and sent the crowd into a frenzy.
Cardi B’s giant feathered gown, 2019 Met Gala
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Cardi B made a bold statement in head-to-toe ruby red at the 2019 Met Gala. Her feathered gown featured a hood, giant train and reportedly 44 carats worth of rubies on the bodice.
Designer Thom Browne told Vogue he created this dress for her because she “has the ultimate beauty in a woman’s body.”
The Bronx rapper was also covered in jewels at the 2018 Met Gala, when she was several months pregnant with her first child, daughter Kulture.
“Wifey is the truth, she just killed the Met Gala,” her then-husband, Migos rapper OFFSET, posted on social media after the 2019 gala.
Jared Leto holds his head, Met Gala 2019
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Jared Leto has been known for his extreme costumes, and the 2019 Met Gala was no different. He turned heads with a lifelike prop that looked much like his own head.
According to Vogue, Leto took a page from Gucci’s Fall 2018 runway show when model Unia Pakhomova carried a replica of her head as a clutch. His red gown and crystal harness were designed by Alessandro Michele for the fashion house.
Leto outdid himself in 2023 when he showed up in a fluffy, full-body cat suit.
Sadly for his fans, he sat out the 2024 Met Gala because his band, “30 Seconds to Mars,” was touring in Europe.
Katy Perry’s heavenly wings, 2018 Met Gala
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“Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” was the Met Gala theme in 2018, and Katy Perry soared in a giant set of angel wings from Versace.
She rocked a platinum blonde pixie cut with a gold mini dress and thigh-high boots. On top of that sat her huge wings that stretched from the floor to well above her head.
The singer pulled up in a vintage convertible before posing with the wings on The Met steps.
Then, who could forget her outfit the following year, when she wore a crystal chandelier on her head and then dressed in a burger suit for the afterparty.
Frances McDormand has fun with a headpiece, 2018 Met Gala
Kevin Mazur/MG18/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Frances McDormand had the most fun with a whimsical headpiece from Valentino at the 2018 Met Gala.
The Oscar winner was photographed striking her best movie-star-pose as the massive headpiece nearly covered her whole face.
She was later seen in a social media video rocking out to the song “Where’s Your Head At” inside the museum.
Two years later, McDormand appeared on the cover of Vogue, telling the publication, “to still be culturally relevant as a 63-year-old female is so deeply, deeply gratifying.”
Rihanna’s epic yellow entrance, 2015 Met Gala
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It was almost impossible to pick the best Rihanna look, but her arrival for the 2015 Met Gala stole the show.
The giant yellow gown was designed by Chinese designer Guo Pei for that year’s theme, “China: Through the Looking Glass.” Her dramatic train seems to have ushered in era of these dresses and their grand entrances.
Rihanna had back-to-back hits for the “Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: The Art of the In-Between” theme in 2017 and for “Heavenly Bodies” in 2018.
Then, of course, in 2021, she walked the red carpet with her partner, A$AP Rocky, while pregnant with their first child, RZA, and again in 2023 while expecting their second son, Riot Rose.
Beyonce’s nearly-there naked dress, 2015 Met Gala
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The naked dress isn’t exactly new, but jaws dropped when Beyoncé walked in wearing this to the 2015 Met Gala.
The floor-length dress from Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci featured strategically placed jewels but was otherwise see-through.
Beyoncé’s stylist Ty Hunter says her 2015 gown was the heaviest one to wear.
“A lot of the rhinestones and gems, the rocky crystals, they were very heavy,” he told Women’s Wear Daily. “It looked like the lightest ones because she looked naked under it, but it was one of the heaviest.”
Solange Knowles’ fan dress, 2015 Met Gala
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Queen Bey’s younger sister also made the list for the 2015 Met Gala with a head-scratching mini dress.
Solange Knowles sported a futuristic design from Giles. While she told Refinery29 the dress “gave the illusion of the fan,” others compared it to an oyster, a sting ray or a computer background.
Solange is known for taking fashion risks, and in 2018 she made headlines for asking her followers to vote for her outfit.
Andre Leon Talley, a red carpet staple, 2015 Met Gala
Andrew Toth/Getty Images for The Mark Hotel
Andre Leon Tally was a fixture at the Met Gala since 1974 and he hosted its red carpet correspondence until 2018. The former Vogue creative director died of a heart attack in 2022 at the age of 73.
He is seen here leaving The Mark Hotel as he prepares to host the 2015 Met Gala. That year, he praised Rihanna’s gown as “indulgent” and “luxurious,” calling her the “queen of the night.”
Talley’s fashion career began at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute where he took an unpaid apprenticeship under Diana Vreeland. Those who knew him said he didn’t merely study fashion, he was obsessed with it since his childhood. He went on to work for Women’s Wear Daily and Vogue, ultimately becoming the first Black man to be named creative director.
Kate Moss in metallic, 2009 Met Gala
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Supermodel Kate Moss was the darling of the 2009 Met Gala in a metallic mini dress and matching headwrap from Marc Jacobs. That year’s theme was “The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion,” and she couldn’t have been more right for the part.
Moss and Jacobs have worked on runways and campaigns together since the 1990s, dating back to his controversial grunge collection.
Moss also gets points for her 1995 Met Gala look, when she wore a pale yellow Calvin Klein slip dress with a plunging back.
Sarah Jessica Parker with Alexander McQueen, 2006 Met Gala
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It goes without saying, but Sarah Jessica Parker is always one to watch at the Met Gala. Her career has seen countless head-turning looks, from a thrifted dress for her first Met Gala in 1995 to her oversized mohawk for the 2013 theme “Punk: Chaos to Couture.”
One look that stands out is her outfit for the 2006 Met Gala theme “Anglomania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion.” She walked in with Alexander McQueen wearing a short dress while he wore a jacket, tie and kilt, and they both had coordinating plaid sashes.
Parker later told Vogue she was nervous because she deeply admired the late designer and even kept scraps of fabric he used from their dress fittings.
Liv Tyler & Stella McCartney “rock royalty,” 1999 Met Gala
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The 1999 Met Gala theme was “Rock Style,” so who better to make a splash than Liv Tyler, the daughter of Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler, and Stella McCartney, daughter of The Beatles’ Paul McCartney?
The duo attended the gala together in matching shirts with the words, “Rock Royalty” scrawled on them. McCartney told Vogue she took a pack of Haynes shirts to a vintage shop in Little Italy, where she helped customize the final design.
“I didn’t come at it intentionally to be rebellious at all. I didn’t know what people wore,” she said.
“It wasn’t really appropriate that we wore those shirts. Officially, we weren’t following the honors of the dress code. It was very cool and rebellious of Stella,” Tyler added.
Princess Diana’s silk slip, 1996 Met Gala
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From rock to royals, Princess Diana’s appearance at the 1996 Met Gala goes down in history as one of the most memorable moments. The theme that year was “Christian Dior.”
Princess Diana made a statement in a blue floor-length silk slip dress from John Galliano for Dior and a pearl choker. Vogue described it as her “most un-royal look to date,” and said it signaled her freedom after her divorce and departure from the royal family.
Dozens of other royals have attended the gala over the years, including the Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece who made multiple appearances in 1989, 1995 and 2001.
Gianni & Donatella Versace in leather and gold, 1996 Met Gala
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Versace’s designs have come up several times on this list, and the siblings behind the brand are on here for their leather and gold look at the 1996 Met Gala. That year’s theme was Christian Dior.
Gianni Versace was the theme the following year, months after he was murdered outside his Miami Beach home.
His sister, Donatella Versace, took over the fashion house and has been a staple of the Met Gala since the 1990s. She dressed some of the biggest stars, and early photos show her arriving with Naomi Campbell in 1995 and posing for a photo with Madonna and Cher in 1997.
Naomi Campbell’s sparkle dress, 1995 Met Gala
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Speaking of Naomi Campbell, she made quite the entrance in this shimmering, floor-length gown at the Met Gala in 1995, themed “Haute Couture.”
“I loved this dress. It was slim-fitting and body-hugging, and just glistened,” she told Vogue in a 2020 interview. “I remember when I saw this dress for the first time, I thought, wow, Gianni, is that for me? It seemed like one of those dresses that you read in those fairytale books.”
Campbell made her Met Gala debut in 1990 wearing a multi-colored mini dress also from Gianni Versace.
“I was in such awe to first be invited by Gianni Versace through my new roommate, Christy Turlington,” she said. “You dressed up in the ’90s… Enjoy your clothes, enjoy your accessories, enjoy your hair.”
Campbell said her most fun look was from 2019 when she wore a sheer Valentino Couture gown with a feathered cape and lace stockings that came together just hours before.
Cher dazzles 1985 Met Gala
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Cher, the woman who needs no last name, took the 1985 Met Gala theme, “Costumes of Royal India,” to the next level. She wore a sparkling gold and silver body suit with a large matching ear cuff.
Other notable guests in attendance that year included Henry Kissinger, Raquel Welch and Barbara Walters.
Cher may have also been the first to wear a “naked dress” at the Met Gala when she made her debut in 1974. The dress had feathered sleeves and she wore her long, dark hair down loose.
Diana Ross in feather gown, 1981 Met Gala
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The Queen of Motown, Diana Ross, was photographed wearing a flowing, strapless feather gown at the 1981 Met Gala. That year’s theme was “The Eighteenth-Century Woman.”
Ross sported a similar feathered jacket for the 2014 American Music Awards, when she presented Taylor Swift with the first-ever Dick Clark Award of Excellence.
“I’m so blown away to just have received an award from Diana Ross,” Swift said at the time.
Bianca Jagger’s bodice dress, 1981 Met Gala
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Bianca Jagger, a 1970s muse turned social activist, is seen here wearing a dark strapless dress with a full skirt and detailed embroidery at the 1981 Met Gala.
Her classic Dior style inspired Kaia Gerber to recreate the look in 2021. Oscar de la Renta designed a similar gown, and Gerber wore her hair in waves parted to the side.
Gerber, who is the daughter of Cindy Crawford, described the dress in one word: “elegant.”
Jackie O, the original icon, 1979 Met Gala
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Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, former U.S. first lady, was known for her fashion that shaped the nation. She first attended the Met Gala in 1979 (“Fashions of the Habsburg Era: Austria-Hungary”) and later served as co-chair.
In 2001, the Met Gala theme paid tribute to the style icon with “Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years.”
“Jacqueline Kennedy is one of history’s great style icons,” Vogue’s European editor-at-large Hamish Bowles said in a statement at the time. “Her profound influence on the way an entire generation wanted to look, dress, and behave cannot be overestimated. She set the standards that American women strove to follow, and, on the world stage, provided a visual metaphor for the youth and promise of the Kennedy administration.”
Lost, Looted, Disputed: Why Provenance Is Still the Art World’s Blind Spot
Acquiring artworks and antiquities intelligently requires knowledge in several areas—art history, the art market, conservation, art law and perhaps even finance, and there are a variety of degree programs covering those fields. What’s missing, however, is professional-level training in what’s known as provenance research, or the study of an object’s ownership history from its creation to the present day. This kind of research is critical because so many objects have been removed illegally from historical sites or, in the case of Nazi-era Europe, forcibly taken from private collections. An untold number of such artworks and antiquities continue to surface for sale and are housed in the permanent collections of museums in the U.S. and Europe.
If you’re an art appraiser, collector, dealer, museum curator or registrar, knowing how to trace an object’s history—and whether it was stolen or looted—has become essential. Yet “there is no professional training for provenance research,” Lisa Duffy-Zeballos, director of art research at New York’s International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR), told Observer, even though “more and more people are being held responsible for this knowledge.”
SEE ALSO: Laura Alba Takes Us Inside the Prado’s Groundbreaking Art Authentication Software
Duffy-Zeballos is referring to master’s degree programs focused on provenance research, of which there are currently none in the United States. Looking to fill the gap, IFAR, a 55-year-old nonprofit that supports arts institutions with information on fakes, forgeries, frauds and authentication, launched a seven-class online course called, simply, Introduction to Provenance Research. The latest session, taught by Duffy-Zeballos with art historian Theresa Kutasz Christensen, kicked off yesterday (May 6).
In each session, participants are introduced to the online tools and databases used to track stolen and looted art and artifacts—such as those maintained by IFAR, Interpol and the FBI—and shown how to consult archives to trace where items were created, exhibited and sold. They are also assigned to small groups to investigate objects with “gaps in provenance,” Duffy-Zeballos said.
At institutions such as the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, full-time provenance researchers have described their training as largely on the job. This course mirrors that hands-on approach. “It’s a kind of learning by doing,” Lindsey Schneider, IFAR’s executive director, told Observer. There’s no clear career path for provenance researchers. “We designed our course to be skills-based rather than a theoretically based program focused on why provenance is important.”
Today’s provenance researchers must be fluent in a wide range of knowledge, from identifying culturally significant objects to understanding international laws on cultural patrimony and export embargoes. Smugglers routinely attempt to evade these laws, and the course trains participants to spot fake documentation, verify physical characteristics that may raise red flags and evaluate the legitimacy of various records, whether invoices, ownership transfers or export licenses. “Those things can be difficult to research,” said Duffy-Zeballos, “but it is possible. It all depends on the object. But actually, being able to recognize fake documentation is something that we go through.”
Artworks stolen during the Nazi era have been a central focus of provenance research over the past 30 years, especially since 1998, when the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum hosted a landmark conference. Representatives from forty-four countries, along with thirteen nongovernmental organizations, museums and auction houses, convened to produce the “Washington Principles,” which declared that “art that had been confiscated by the Nazis and not subsequently restituted should be identified” and returned whenever possible. Compliance with those principles has varied. Art stolen by Nazi officials in the 1930s and by the German military during the Second World War tends to make the biggest headlines—partly due to the value of individual pieces—but Duffy-Zeballos emphasized that any understanding of provenance research has to go far beyond this era. “A growing field is in the area of Buddhist antiquities, colonial repatriation and Native American objects,” she said.
In the first few months of 2025, U.S. museums have returned antiquities to countries around the globe. In February, the Metropolitan Museum of Art repatriated to Greece a 7th-century B.C. bronze griffin head believed to have been stolen from an archaeological museum in Olympia in the 1930s. In March, the Art Institute of Chicago returned a 12th-century Buddha sculpture to Nepal. Also in February, the Cleveland Museum of Art announced plans to send back to Turkey a 2,000-year-old Greco-Roman bronze statue that had been looted from the ancient city of Bubon.
Surrendering or repatriating objects from a museum’s permanent collection is rarely easy. Legal teams often get involved—or, as in the case of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s bronze statue, the Antiquities Trafficking Unit of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which has pursued criminal cases against museums across the country in recent years. “Restitutions are challenging for many reasons: they are controversial, they involve ethical and legal questions and they have strong diplomatic elements,” Leila A. Amineddoleh, founder of Amineddoleh & Associates LLC, told Observer last year. “Cultural items are unlike other objects—they are imbued with cultural significance. As such, some people feel objects in a transcendent way. Accordingly, cultural heritage has political and diplomatic currency.”
Duffy-Zeballos said IFAR and its course aren’t concerned with politics. “Our goal is for people to have a greater knowledge of these issues and to strive toward transparency, which has been a problem when it comes to provenance in the art world. And very legitimate issues of privacy are attached to this.” For people to be able to do this work openly, ethically and cooperatively, she added, you have to be able to see if there are gaps in an artwork’s or artifact’s origins.
All the past Met Gala themes over the years up to 2025
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Benefit, known around the globe as the Met Gala, will take place on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York City.
The Spring 2025 exhibition, titled “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” will invoke Black creativity, innovation and expression in fashion, culture and style. The dress code of the 2025 Met Gala — typically related to the exhibit’s theme — is “Tailored for You,” calling for a focus on suiting and menswear, according to the Met. The exhibit nods to the stories of Black style told through clothing by the African diaspora beginning in the 18th century.
The exhibit is funded largely by contributions from the Met Gala, where every year the biggest and wealthiest names gather to show off the best in fashion.
Vogue Magazine’s Anna Wintour has co-chaired the event since 1995 and is joined this year by co-chairs Pharrell Williams, A$AP Rocky, Lewis Hamilton and Colman Domingo.
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Here is a look at the themes of past Met Galas.
2024 Met Gala theme: “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion”
Kevin Mazur/MG24/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
In 2024, the Met Gala explored the themes of rebirth and renewal through nature and the passage of time. Referencing the 1962 J.G. Ballard short story “The Garden of Time” celebrities, entrepreneurs, athletes and designers wore floral gowns and referenced nature’s everlasting forms.
Bad Bunny wore Margiela and Jennifer Lopez wore a Schiaparelli design. Both co-chaired the event with Wintour, who wore a Loewe custom floor-length jacket adorned in feathers that formed tulip bouquets. But Zendaya, another gala co-chair, stole the night by walking the carpet twice. She first wore Maison Margiela Artisanal by John Galliano before changing quickly and closing out the most public part of the night, the strut into the event at the steps of the Met, in a 1996 black gown from John Galliano’s Givenchy era, which she paired with a flower bouquet Alexander McQueen head piece designed by Philip Treacy.
2023 Met Gala theme: “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty”
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
The Met Gala honored the late designer Karl Lagerfeld in 2023 with a night of references to his style and his immense influence in the fashion world. Some wore Lagerfeld’s designs for Chanel, Fendi, Balmain and Chloé, while others twisted his unique way of dressing, which combined black, white and leather for his daily wear, and later in life inspired the creative behind his eponymous label. There were also plenty of cat odes at the gala, a tribute to Lagerfeld’s beloved feline friend Choupette,
2022 Met Gala theme: “In America: An Anthology of Fashion”
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The second installment of a two-part exhibition on fashion in the United States, “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” celebrated two centuries of American identity through fashion’s eyes. “Gilded Glamour” graced the gala’s red carpet and American history references were prevalent.
The most recognized garment belonged to Marilyn Monroe. The nude, form-fitting number shined on the style icon while she serenaded then-president John F. Kennedy for his birthday in 1962. Kim Kardashian wore the dress after entering a deal with the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museum to bring the garment out of its display. The uproar was immediate, as some alleged possible damage to the dress. Ripley’s was forced to respond denying the heated claims.
2021 Met Gala theme: “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion”
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The first of two parts, “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion” wove together identities of the ever-changing U.S. through time, exploring the emotions behind the country’s evolving culture. Instagram sponsored the event and brought to the carpet executives turned celebrities, including author, viral influencer and director of fashion partnerships at Instagram Evan Chen, and the social app’s chief Adam Mosseri.
After a pause for the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, social hesitance was still evident and masks were incorporated into some of the night’s designs. Of note, Billie Eilish wore an Oscar De La Renta dress for a cause, calling for the storied house to end its ties to fur.
2019 Met Gala theme: “Camp: Notes on Fashion”
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Guests brought their imagination to the pink carpet for the 2019 “Camp: Notes on Fashion” gala rendition. Gender-bending was evident and many looks turned heads, like Jared Leto’s interpretation of Alessandro Michele’s world of Gucci. Lady Gaga’s iconic Brandon Maxwell looks told a story of style with each step the singer took outside of the Met. Framed around Susan Sontag’s 1964 essay “Notes on ‘Camp,'” the gala brought to life the whimsical and effervescent nature of fashion.
2018 Met Gala theme: “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination”
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The 2018 Met Gala theme drew inspiration from Catholicism. “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” explored religious iconography and the influence of medieval art in fashion. Guests brought to life looks that referenced papal garments and displayed biblical artifacts like crosses, angel wings and halos. The theme’s ties to the history of Christ were not well received by some critics who thought fashion should stay out of the church.
2017 Met Gala theme: “Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between”
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The 2017 event paid tribute to Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo and her Comme des Garçons avant-garde designs that play with the body’s shape and form. Duality, a motif for the exhibit, highlighted almost four decades of her work. Guests brought to the event pops of red from Kawakubo’s palette, intricate embellishments and sheer fabrics. Caroline Kennedy and Rihanna embraced more fantastical designs, pairing shape-shifting silhouettes with florals, inducing more authenticity to a much-subdued theme interpretation.
2016 Met Gala theme: “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology”
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The influence of technology in fashion turned the 2016 Met Gala into a spectacular display of metallics and cutting-edge designs. Many of the garnmets appeared too intricate and precise to be man-made, an ode to the artisans all over the world who piece together exquisite Haute Couture creations by pouring thousands of hours into each work. CBS News spent the day with supermodel and entrepreneur Karlie Kloss, who wore a sleek white Brandon Maxwell number that referenced classic men’s tailoring paired with Alaïa-esque angular cuts.
2015 Met Gala theme “China: Through the Looking Glass”
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While the 2015 Met exhibit scoped a wide history of artifacts and influence from Asian art, the gala came down to just one word: Rihanna. Dawning a sunny yellow cape that cascaded down the steps of the Met, the singer and fashion icon elevated the meaning of attending fashion’s biggest night. The couture garment designed by China’s Guo Pei took two years to make, Rihanna told Vanity Fair. The look quickly comes to mind around the world when the first Monday in May is discussed.
2014 Met Gala theme: “Charles James: Beyond Fashion”
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The Costume Institute has been celebrating those behind fashion since its inception, and in 1973 it began hosting the gala within the museum itself, Vogue recounts. Fashion authority Diana Vreeland brought to life “The World of Balenciaga” after exiting Vogue as editor-in-chief, and her tribute to Spanish designer Cristóbal Balenciaga left a blueprint for other designer-centered celebrations that followed.
In 2014, couturier Charles James’ work went on display at the Met and guests embraced brilliant gowns with his grandiose touch. James’ tailored and structural approach to the female form, mixed with modern fabrics, brought elegance and regalia to the occasion.
2013 Met Gala theme: “Punk: Chaos to Couture”
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Anti-establishment influence inked its way into the Met’s history in 2013. Started in the 1970’s, the punk movement gave guests a reason to wear garments embellished with the spirit of teen disobedience and air of grungy D.I.Y. personal style. Madonna honored the era with fishnets, metal studs and silver chains adorning a Givenchy mini plaid blazer by Riccardo Tisci. Rebellion was also apparent in the hairstyles exhibited, most notably by singer Miley Cyrus, a fashion fanatic, whose short, spiked look paired perfectly with her risque fishnet Marc Jacobs gown.
What was the first Met Gala theme?
The Costume Institute started holding benefits in 1948, but it was Vreeland who brought themed galas to the next level as a Met consultant with “The World of Balenciaga” in 1973, according to Vogue.
Full list of past Met Gala themes over the years
Inspecting the art of the world’s most famous designers and houses, declaring the impact of global cultures and movements, and defining the prevalence of certain style icons, the Met Gala has explored many themes throughout The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute history. Here’s a look at the full list of Met Gala themes:
- 1973: The World of Balenciaga
- 1974: Romantic and Glamorous Hollywood Design
- 1975: American Women of Style
- 1976: The Glory of Russian Costume
- 1977: Vanity Fair: A Treasure Trove of The Costume Institute
- 1978: Diaghilev: Costumes and Designs of the Ballets Russes
- 1979: Fashions of the Habsburg Era: Austria-Hungary
- 1980: The Manchu Dragon: Costumes of China, the Chi’ng Dynasty
- 1981: The Eighteenth-Century Woman
- 1982: La Belle Époque
- 1983: Yves Saint Laurent: 25 Years of Design
- 1984: Man and the Horse
- 1985: Costumes of Royal India
- 1986: Dance
- 1987: In Style: Celebrating Fifty Years of the Costume Institute
- 1988: From Queen to Empress: Victorian Dress 1837–1877
- 1989: The Age of Napoleon: Costume from Revolution to Empire, 1789–1815
- 1990: Théâtre de la Mode – Fashion Dolls: The Survival of Haute Couture
- 1992: Fashion and History: A Dialogue
- 1993: Diana Vreeland: Immoderate Style
- 1994: Orientalism: Visions of the East in Western Dress
- 1995: Haute Couture
- 1996: Christian Dior
- 1997: Gianni Versace
- 1998: Cubism and Fashion
- 1999: Rock Style
- 2001: Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years
- 2003: Goddess: The Classical Mode
- 2004: Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the 18th Century
- 2005: The House of Chanel
- 2006: AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion
- 2007: Poiret: King of Fashion
- 2008: Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy
- 2009: The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion
- 2010: American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity
- 2011: Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty
- 2012: Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations
- 2013: Punk: Chaos to Couture
- 2014: Charles James: Beyond Fashion
- 2015: China: Through the Looking Glass
- 2016: Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology
- 2017: Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between
- 2018: Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination
- 2019: Camp: Notes on Fashion
- 2021: In America: A Lexicon of Fashion
- 2022: In America: An Anthology of Fashion
- 2023: Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty
- 2024: Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion
- 2025: Superfine: Tailoring Black Style
Met Gala 2025 photos, best looks and moments celebrating
Celebrity stylist Alexandra Mandelkorn said the Met Gala is about going big.
“It’s really the one night that we really get to dive deep into fashion and go big,” Mandelkorn told CBS News New York. “I think there’s many other red carpets that are very elegant, sophisticated, chic, but with the Met Gala, you really get to let your creativity fly and you see things you wouldn’t see anywhere else.”
Makeup artist Vincent Oquendo said this is his 12th Met Gala and he started creating mood boards a month ago, pulling inspiration from the Victorian-era and the Harlem Renaissance.
“When I think of ‘Tailoring Black Style,’ I just think of those crisp suits and that really cool Big Daddy Kane hip hop energy,” he said. “For me, it’s the pinnacle of style.”
So what are the looks to watch for this year?
“We’re going to see lots of suits, I think in all shapes, sizes, colors,” Complex Editor-in-Chief Aria Hughes explained. “I think designers are going to play in different ways, and then hopefully lay in some storytelling. I hope to see some archival pieces from Black designers, like a Patrick Kelly or a Willi Smith. So I’m really hoping that people have fun with it.”
“I think there’s going to be a lot of hybrid suiting, a lot of details that we see on traditional tailoring – lapels, cuffs, buttons, pocket watches, all these types of things. And I think color, and prints, and that really flamboyant side of dandyism,” Mandelkorn said.
Hughes pointed to British designer Grace Wales Bonner, and Mandelkorn also praised Sergio Hudson.