A look at some of the most legendary Met Gala dresses over the years

With the 2023 Met Gala ‘Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty’ right around the corner, we’re taking a look back at some of the most iconic dresses worn at what has been described as the “Super Bowl of fashion.”

From dresses that took thousands of hours to create, dresses that glow in the dark, and dresses with armor plating, here are some of the most jaw-dropping looks to hit the Met Gala red carpet.

Rihanna at the 2015 Met Gala ‘China: Through the Looking Glass’

Rihanna stole the show when she arrived at the 2015 Met Gala wearing an opulent, yellow fur-lined cape-gown, with a nine-foot-long train that weighed 55 pounds, designed by Chinese designer, Guo Pei.

According to RiRi herself, the dress was handmade and took roughly two years to make, with 6,000 hours of labor to put together the gold thread and fox-fur lined gown.

Rihanna was the first person to wear the dress off the runway and wore it with gold jewelry, a golden headpiece that looks like vines intertwined with flowers, and matching golden stiletto heels.

Claire Danes at the 2016 Met Gala ‘Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology’

Actress Claire Danes arrived at the 2016 Met Gala on a bus at the behest of designer Zac Posen, who didn’t want her to ruin her dress.

“Zac literally had a bus for me to get here, so I stood,” Danes told Vanity Fair. While at first glance, Danes’ dress appeared to be an ordinary baby-blue gown, with the lights turned off, the true magic of the dress was revealed.

Made of organza and fiber optics, the dress glows in the dark, making Danes look like a modern Cinderella.

Zendaya at the 2018 Met Gala ‘Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination’

The inspiration for Zendaya’s look at the 2018 Met Gala came in the form of a dream, when her stylist Law Roach dreamt of the Catholic icon, Joan of Arc, and immediately went to Versace to see what dress could be made in honor of the saint.

The final look is an homage to Joan of Arc, with Versace designing a custom gown complete with armor-detailing and plenty of chain-mail, with Zendaya wearing a bob wig, nodding to Joan of Arc’s hairstyle. She finished the look with a pair of chrome platform heels.

Kim Kardashian at the 2019 Met Gala ‘Camp: Notes on Fashion’

At the 2019 Met Gala, Kim Kardashian turned heads when she arrived on the red carpet looking like she had just come out of a pool.

Thierry Mugler designed a custom “wet dress”, complete with crystal water droplets sewn throughout the entirety of the dress, down the arms, and even on the shoes.

The skin-colored dress was designed exclusively for Kardashian, who wore it with her hair and skin slicked in oil to mimic that “just came out of the ocean” look.