Met Gala 2024 Red Carpet: See All The Best And Most WTF Looks

Elyse Wanshel

Updated 7 May 2024 at 0:52 pm·5-min read

The biggest night in fashion is back. And we’re not going to beat around the bush: This year’s theme is no bed of roses to interpret.

The 2024 Met Gala, Vogue’s annual fashion extravaganza at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, traditionally takes place on the first Monday in May, and attendees on the star-studded guest list traditionally are tasked with wearing a themed ensemble. Co-hosting this year’s event are Zendaya, Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Hemsworth and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour

Zendaya, Rihanna and Jennifer Lopez at previous Met Galas. Getty

Last year’s theme was pretty black and white and was “in honor of Karl” — or a tribute to the controversial but influential fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, who died in 2019 at age 85. Due to the simplicity of the dress code, we didn’t get any campy outfits like Katy Perry’s chandelier dress, stunners like Blake Lively’s color-changing number, or straight-up head-scratchers like Kylie Jenner pairing a wedding gown with a baseball cap. Rather, we got a lot of Chanel, which is always chic but yawn-worthy enough that a cockroach that crashed the red carpet became the official star of the night.

Kim Kardashian, Sydney Sweeney and Jared Leto at the 2023 Met Gala. Most outfits were elegant, but Leto was one of the few celebrities who got a bit kooky by dressing like Karl Lagerfeld's beloved cat, Choupette. Getty

But this year’s theme is so convoluted that it likely will sow the seeds of some straight-up mess.

The dress code is “The Garden of Time,” named after the 1962 short story by J.G. Ballard. In the story, an aristocratic couple living in a walled estate with a magical garden tries to stave off an unruly mob trying to break in. To keep the mob at bay, the husband picks flowers trying to turn back time until there’s no blooms left. The mob eventually breaks in, ransacks their place and the couple turns to stone. Due to this, Vogue told its guests that outfits should represent “fleeting beauty” and embody “the beauty of the natural world — its fragility and its inevitable decay.”

Blake Lively, Katy Perry and Kylie Jenner at previous Met Galas with each respectively serving glam, kitsch and “wut?”. Getty

As always, the dress code is inspired by the Met Fashion Institute’s annual spring exhibit. The whole point of the gala is to raise money for the Fashion Institute, which is the only department at the museum required to pay for itself.

This year’s exhibit is “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” and it showcases outfits so old and delicate, they can’t be displayed on mannequins. Instead, the exhibit will involve AI and 3D recreations of the work.

So, what does this all mean? We honestly have no idea — and we’re sure famous guests and their stylists are equally stumped. So, translations of this theme could run the gamut from floral prints, sustainable attire and suits made out of grass — to some celebrities missing the assignment and showing up in fairy tale garb thanks to the words “Sleeping Beauty” existing in the name of the exhibit.

But here at HuffPost, we’re happy to dig up and present all the best, worst and befuddling looks from this year’s bash, which you can take a gander at below.

So, in conclusion: Happy first Monday of May to all who celebrate!

Zendaya