Fashion’s greatest night time is all the time a canvas for spectacle.
The Met Gala kicks off Monday celebrating the theme “Superfine: Tailoring Black Stye,” an homage to black dandyism led by Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams and Vogue editrix Anna Wintour co-chairing the Met Gala with LeBron James as an honorary chair.
“At some point, the Met Gala stopped being a fundraiser with incredible couture outfits and became the Oscars of fashion, with a twist of performance art, protest, and the occasional wardrobe malfunction,” Melissa Rivers, TV host, style skilled and creator instructed The Post.
“It’s the one carpet where fashion takes center stage, and no one plays it safe because safe isn’t the trend. It’s become the place to make a statement, whether that’s cultural, personal, or just pure ‘Camp’ chaos.”
Indeed, and in celebration, listed here are its most scandalous moments over the years:
X-Rated style, politics and fake pas
1. Cher’s bare gown
Long earlier than different A-listers dared to reveal, Cher set the template in 1974 with a sheer “naked illusion dress” lined in silver crystals and punctuated with white feathers on the sleeves and backside of the gown.
“People were horrified, they thought, that’s not fashion, that’s just naked at the Metropolitan,” Mackie recalled to People earlier this year.
“Cher didn’t simply put on the bare look, she invented it. That look mentioned, ‘Who needs subtlety when you have sequins and Bob Mackie?’ Rivers instructed The Post.
“It scandalized the fashion world in the best way with glam, guts, and exactly zero apologies. Since then, everybody’s been trying to recreate that moment, and let’s be honest, failing.”
2. Madonna’s boobs and butt
Madame X wore a risqué bondage impressed physique swimsuit baring her chest and bottom – each lined solely by a skinny layer of black lace – for the 2016 theme “Manus X Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology,” theme.
“There were boobs out there, there was butt out there and the jewels complemented that,” jeweler Neil Lane described to Page Six at the time.
3. AOC’s ‘Tax the Rich’ gown
Congresswoman AOC confirmed as much as the Met Gala in 2021 wearing a political message aimed toward her fellow Democrat-voting partygoers – a white robe by Brother Vellies with “Tax the Rich” splattered in crimson throughout her again paired with the matching slogan on her bag.
“If you’re trying to make it a branding opportunity, Sarah Jessica Parker did it better in Oscar De La Renta at the 2014 Met Gala,” Rivers quipped.
4. Kim Kardashian stars as a sofa
Kim Kardashian’s ill-advised style selection drew comparisons to a sofa, because of the rose printed Givenchy robe by Riccardo Tisci’s sample. She wore it whereas pregnant along with her first little one, North West, in 2013 at her Met Gala debut with ex-husband Kanye West. The theme? “Punk: Chaos to Couture.”
“I think Robin Williams even tweeted it, said I looked like Mrs. Doubtfire,” Kardashian recalled in a video interview with Vogue, noting that the Olsen twins had been virtually the solely followers of the gown.
5. Lady Gaga’s 16 minute ‘Camp’ parade
No stranger to wacky outfits [meat dress anyone?] Lady Gaga gave the “Camp”-themed Met Gala in 2019 a run for its cash when she made a 16-minute entrance in a scorching pink cape gown, matching hair bow and a 25-foot practice. If that wasn’t sufficient, she then stripped all the way down to 4 totally different appears, all designed by Brandon Maxwell. The style parade required an entourage to assist her change right into a strapless black robe with a bustle which she wore with an identical umbrella, adopted by a neon pink robe earlier than stripping all the way down to her skivvies in a crystal-studded bra, underwear and fishnet tights. And that was earlier than the present had even began!
6. Naked-ish Lil Nas X
Rapper Lil Nas X wore nothing but a silver Dior thong and platform booties to the 2023 Met Gala red carpet. The remainder of his physique was spray painted silver and decked in rhinestone and pearl detailing, plus a rhinestone face masks for the “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” theme.
7. Jared Leto’s cat costume
Jared Leto gave the catwalk a brand new which means when he confirmed as much as the 2023 gala in a full cat costume. The animated ensemble paid homage to Choupette, Karl Lagerfeld’s beloved cat, for a playful nod to the yr’s theme: “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty.”
8. Donatella’s deep V
Jennifer Lopez rocked the Grammys in an notorious jungle print, deep V-cut Versace gown in 2000, however the look was stolen from designer Donatella Versace who wore it to the 1999 Met Gala.
Infamous feuds
9. The Solange/Jay-Z elevator struggle
Solange Knowles, with sister Beyonce by her aspect, yelled at Jay-Z in the elevator of The Standard High Line in 2014 then resorted to outright punching and kicking him, as a safety guard tried to restrain her, an incident which befell after the Met Gala. The stunning footage leaked quickly after, however the purpose for the struggle stays a thriller.
10. Demi Lovato vs. Nicki Minaj
Demi Lovato admitted she almost broke her sobriety at the 2016 Met Gala apparently due to Nicki Minaj whom she instructed Billboard was “miserable to be around.”
“I changed my clothes, but I still had my diamonds on – millions of dollars of diamonds on in an AA meeting,” she recalled of the yr she and the “Starships” rapper had been accompanied by designer Jeremy Scott. Following the gala, Minaj posted a photograph of herself on the crimson carpet tagging solely Scott. Lovato commented on Minaj’s put up with a laughing emoji, peace signal and thumbs up, in an obvious jab.
11. Tim Gunning for Wintour
“Project Runway” alum Tim Gunn revealed he was banned from the 2024 Met Gala after he candidly recalled an incident from 2016 by which he watched the Wintour “being carried down five flights of stairs by two bodyguards – two big hulking men! – from a fashion show!” He additionally famous he’s had an “open war” with Wintour ever since.
12. Schlossberg’s protest
President John F. Kennedy’s immature grandson Jack Schlossberg posted a photograph of himself as a toddler absolutely nude standing on a balcony, an obvious try to gas a feud he has with Wintour, who’s his former boss.
Stars who hate the Met Gala
13. Amy Schumer
Schumer attended the Met Gala in 2016 when she attended as Alexander Wang’s date in a low minimize crimson robe and instructed Howard Stern on his SiriusXM radio present the gala felt extra like a “punishment.” “We’re dressed up like a bunch of f—king a–holes.”
14. Tina Fey
Tiny Fey attended her one and solely Met Gala in 2010, when the theme was “American Woman: Fashioning a National Identify,” the place she described the style spectacle as a “jerk parade,” in an interview with Daivd Letterman in 2015.
“Clearly, I’ll never go again, but you go and it’s this beautiful space and it’s just every jerk from every walk of life is there wearing some stupid thing.”
15. Gwyneth Paltrow
The Goop founder was one in all the first stars to admit she hated the Met Gala. “It sucked,” Paltrow instructed USA Today in 2013. “It seems like it’s the best thing in the world … and then you get there and it’s so hot and it’s so crowded and everyone’s pushing you.” Despite the evaluation, Paltrow graced the well-known Met steps once more in 2017 and 2019.
Worst behaved
16. Cigarette selfies
It grew to become a short pattern to hitch the ‘smoker’s membership’ and put up a pic from the Metropolitan Museum of Art toilet with a cigarette. Rebels like Dakota Johnson, Bella Hadid, Stella McCartney, Marc Jacobs, Courtney Love, Frances Cobain and Remi Malek all did it, in clear violation of museum coverage.
17. Man in a field
Two males in fits pulled up in an SUV to the Met Gala in 2017 then carried out a clear perspex box featuring naked, Russian efficiency artist Fyodor Pavlov-Andreevich. They then dropped it down on the crimson carpet. Security raced over and threw a white sheet over the field earlier than dragging it off the carpet. Firefighters then used a noticed to chop it open, police said at the time. The Met Gala clearly doesn’t take nicely to uninvited visitors.
18. Scented occasion
Fashion editor Diana Vreeland liked utilizing a signature fragrance in the galleries for every Met celebration. She apparently sprayed the air with the YSL eau de toilette perfume Opium for the 1980 exhibit, New York journal reported in 2005.
19. Steven Seagal’s tang swimsuit
Action film star Steven Seagal bizarrely wore a crimson silk Chinese tang swimsuit to 1999’s “Rock style”-themed gala. Nobody’s positive why he was even invited.
20. John Galliano’s ‘tribute’
Controversial British clothier John Galliano wore what seemed to be a pimp swimsuit to the 1997 gala with an over-sized, crimson velvet hat and over-sized stripped jacket, which he bizarrely claimed was a tribute to Gianni Versace, who was murdered earlier that yr.
