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The most controversial and iconic dresses in the history of the Met Gala

Every first Monday in May, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York opens its fashion exhibition with what is one of the industry’s biggest events. Its privileged attendees have left us with a long list of memorable looks and anecdotes

Carlos Megía

May 05, 2025 - 11:47CEST

Lady Gaga's striptease (2019). The 'Bad Romance' singer showed up on the red carpet that year decked out in a grandiloquent fuchsia Brandon Maxwell gown with a cape and a 7.6-meter train that paid tribute to the Camp aesthetic, the protagonist of the Met's exhibition premiering that night. But more was to be expected from the woman who once went viral for wearing a dress made of meat, and Gaga, once again, did not disappoint. The artist was shedding layers of clothing until she stood in lingerie on the stairs of the museum after wearing, first a voluminous black dress, and then a pink satin slip dress.ANGELA WEISS (AFP via Getty Images)

Rihanna's most viral dress (2015). The very long yellow embroidered velvet cape that the Barbados native wore on the red carpet became one of the most talked-about memes of the night (and probably of the gala's history). Some people compared the 25-kilogram design to a giant omelet, others to a pizza base, and her dress was even said to be the yellow brick road from The Wizard of Oz. Chinese designer Guo Pei was responsible for the creation that changed her life: the virality of Rihanna (whom, by the way, she did not know until then) made her own popularity soar internationally.Axelle/Bauer-Griffin (FilmMagic)

Katy Perry in a convertible (2018). To pay tribute to the Heavenly Bodies theme, which dived into the relationship between Catholicism and fashion, Katy Perry became an angel with colossal golden wings. So striking and vast was her celestial interpretation that the performer of 'Last Friday Night' arrived at the Metropolitan Museum of New York with half her body sticking out of a convertible. Minutes earlier she had strolled through the city to the bewilderment of passers-by.Gilbert Carrasquillo (GC Images)

Jared Leto or the man with two heads (2019). As if he were Salome in the famous painting by Caravaggio, the actor and singer Jared Leto appeared on stage holding a head in his hands that, on that occasion, was a replica of his own. We owe the idea to his friend, the designer Alessandro Michele, who a year earlier had brought to the catwalk disturbing duplicates of the heads of his models. Leto took note of the extravagance and confirmed that there is no more disturbing and iconic accessory on the red carpet than carrying your own face around with you.Sean Zanni (Patrick McMullan via Getty Image)

Kim Kardashian, a shadow in the night (2021). Despite the fact that she completely covered her body and face with a design by Demna Gvasalia, creative director of Balenciaga at the time, in collaboration with Kanye West, Kim Kardashian was the most recognizable and talked-about celebrity of the night. It was the best way to show how the reality TV and social media star is absolutely recognizable in the age of the internet even when she hides her face.ANGELA WEISS (AFP via Getty Images)

Kim Kardashian and the most controversial dress (2022). The following year, the businesswoman and TV celebrity once again became the star of the night, generating headlines and opinions in all directions after she wore the dress in which Marilyn Monroe sang happy birthday to President Kennedy. Designed by Bob Mackie, the design came out of the museum just for her to wear on the red carpet. Although she wore it for a few minutes and Kim acknowledged the strict diet she had undergone to put it on, the back of the design ended up ripped and criticism was not long in coming. In 2024 she once again generated debate around the canons of beauty and health when she wore a corset by John Galliano for Maison Margiela in which she could barely breathe.Kevin Mazur/MG22 (Getty Images for The Met Museum/)

Cher's naked dress (1974). The Believe singer's look in the mid-1970s was as surprising as it was ahead of its time. Long before naked dresses were a trend on red carpets, Cher showed up at the opening night of the 'Romantic and Glamorous Hollywood Design' exhibition wearing a Bob Mackie dress with feathers, transparencies and glitter that gave a perfect glimpse of her sculptural anatomy under the fabric.Ron Galella (Ron Galella Collection via Getty)

Jaden Smith cuts his hair (2017). As a prelude to what Jared Leto would do years later, the son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith wore his own dreadlocks in his hand. The young man had cut them weeks earlier for the film A Lifetime in a Year and ironically reflected on replacing his sister with his own hair as a companion. That year the museum's exhibition paid tribute to Rei Kawakubo and her work at Comme des Garçons.Noam Galai (FilmMagic)

T-shirts, fashion and rock & roll (1999). Only the daughters of two great musicians like Steven Tyler and Paul McCartney could dare to appear on the top red carpet of the year wearing simple white T-shirts that read “rock royalty”. Liv Tyler and Stella McCartney were the ones in charge of fulfilling the dress code of that year (rock style) with a style that is still remembered for its simplicity and irony.New York Daily News Archive (NY Daily News via Getty Images)

Is it Cleopatra carried by her servants? No, it's Billy Porter (Pose, HBO) in 2019 claiming at a stroke the 'ball room' culture, carnival, cabaret and, if we dare say it, even those historicist collections that John Galliano created during his time at Christian Dior. When he got off the litter, we discovered that the look, signed by the New York brand The Blonds, was composed of a series of things theoretically forbidden for a man: a jumpsuit embroidered with rhinestones, gold ornaments to the point of delirium and two wings of Isis like those worn by Egyptian dancers.

Princess by surprise (1996). Diana of Wales stunned the world when she attended the edition that paid tribute to Christian Dior. She wore a daring lingerie dress that John Galliano had designed for Dior and topped it off with a set of earrings and a pearl necklace with sapphires that the Queen Mother had given her for her wedding to Prince Charles.New York Daily News (NY Daily News via Getty Images)