Met Gala themes over the years: From Haute Couture to Karl Lagerfeld

The 2025 MET Gala has finally arrived and the annual fundraising event, with the distinction of being “Fashion’s biggest night out” will take place tonight at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on Monday May 5, 2025. Organized by Vogue magazine, the gala brings together the world’s top designers, promising young creatives, models, A-list celebs and industry dignitaries.

Since 1973, each gala has followed a theme. Last year’s theme was ‘Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion’ and in 2025 the theme is

The theme of the night serves as the dress code and the gala is a major star-studded event. Themes can range from a vague idea or category to a tribute to a specific style icon. The official dress code this year is ‘The Garden of Time’ - inspired by J.G. Ballard’s 1962 short story of the same title, which Vogue interprets as floral prints, basically anything flowery - including real flowers.

With the big night less than a week away, while the designers add the finishing touches to their looks let’s take a look back at previous Met Gala Themes.

Met Gala themes: 1973 to present

1973: The World of Balenciaga

The first Met Gala theme featured a retrospective of legendary Basque designer Cristóbal Balenciaga who had passed away the previous year. Acclaimed for his precision, technique and perfectionism, the Spanish designer was regarded as a master couturier by his contemporaries with Coco Chanel saying he was “The only couturier in the truest sense of the word”.

1974: Romantic and Glamorous Hollywood Design

Heroes and heroines... Hollywood and the age of the silver screen was the theme in 1974. The Met Gala explored the larger than life history of Hollywood fashion.

1975: American Women of Style

Organized by Diana Vreeland, the 1975 exhibition celebrated imagination, originality, energy, freedom - the ingredients of style and the vision of 10 American women designers from the 19th Century to the present.

1976: The Glory of Russian Costume

Garments, accessories and photographs from across Russia was the centerpiece of the 1976 Met Gala installation. Russian traditional dress began developing in the ninth century and many examples were acquired and put on display.

1977: Vanity Fair: A Treasure Trove

Costume institute consultant Diana Vreeland put together an exhibition which explored Hollywood and society plucked from fashion bible Vanity Fair‘s private collection.

1978: Diaghilev: Costumes and Designs of the Ballets Russes

Russian ballet costumes were the star of the 1978 Met Gala installation. Looking back to when Diaghilev first presented Russian ballet to Paris in May 1909, astonishing audiences with the striking, colorful designs.

1979: Fashions of the Habsburg Era: Austria-Hungary

The 1979 Met Gala theme was a lesson in European history and fashion. The show presented more than 150 costumes, uniforms, and military and equestrian trappings dating from the eighteenth century in Austria and Hungary to the collapse of the Hapsburg Empire in 1918.

1980: The Manchu Dragon: Costumes of China, the Chi’ng Dynasty

“In the land of jade, everything seems possible - and in many ways, more vivid than life” Vreeland noted in her forward to the catalogue of the 1980 exhibition - an extensive era of intricate and opulent Chinese fashion.. The Chi’ng Dynasty period in China marked the Asian country’s last imperial dynasty.

1982: Le Belle Époque

The 1982 installation focused on the period in French and European history that began in the 1880s and ended with the start of WWI. Le Belle Époque emerged from the dream and grandiose plans of Napoleon III and Baron Haussmann for the transformation of Paris.

1983: Yves Saint Laurent 25 Years of Design

Yves Saint Laurent became the first living designer honored by the Met Gala with a retrospective celebrating his 25-year career.

2022: “Gilded Glamour”

Last year’s Met Gala theme paid homemade to the Gilded Age in New York. This was also the year that Kim Kardashian wore one of Marilyn Monroe’s preserved dresses on loan from Ripley’s Believe It or Not’s collection.

2021: In America: A Lexicon of Fashion

In 2021, The Met Gala theme served to celebrate the evolution of American style throughout history. Many attendees focused on wearing infamous American designers.

2020: “About Time: Fashion and Duration”

Unfortunately, the Met Gala in 2020 was canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, some stars showed off the outfits they would have worn if the gala had gone on.

2019: “Camp: Notes on Fashion”

The 2019 Met Gala sent viewers into a frenzy over confusion as to what ‘Camp’ truly meant. However, attendees came dressed in bright colors, big and bold silhouettes, and eccentric fabrics.

2018: “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination”

2017: “Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between”

2016: “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology”

2015: “China: Through the Looking Glass”

2014: “Charles James: Beyond Fashion”

2013: “Punk: Chaos to Couture”

2012: “Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations”

2011: “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty”

2010: “American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity”

2001 to 2009

2009: “The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion”

2008: “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy”

2007: “Poiret: King of Fashion”

2006: “AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion”

2005: “The House of Chanel”

2004: “Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the 18th Century”

2003: “Goddess: The Classical Mode”

2002: No theme

2001: “Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years”

How can I watch the 2025 Met Gala red carpet?

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The Met Gala is always held on the first Monday in May, which is May 5, 2025. Ahead of the gala, which gets underway at 5:30 p.m. ET / 2:30 p.m. PT at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, celebrities and others connected with the fashion world will be out on the red carpet, showing off their best sides, if not all sides, to the assorted cameras.

The whole event will be streamed live on Vogue’s official website (www.vogue.com), and you can also follow everything as it happens on their social media platforms: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Vogue’s livestream will be hosted by singer/actor Teyana Taylor, actor/producer La La Anthony, and “Saturday Night Live” star Ego Nwodim. Entertainment channel E! provides another option of the gala live.