Another year and another Met Gala filled with interesting, creative and controversial looks is here.
The prestigious event was founded by fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert in 1948 to raise money for the newly established Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but over the years it has evolved to center around the richest and most famous celebrity elite.
Since the 1990s, the Met has been taken over by Anna Wintour, who transformed it into the cultural phenomenon it is today after she introduced strict guest vetting and sky-high ticket prices.
Now dubbed the Super Bowl of Fashion, the event has been home to some of the most iconic fashion looks in recent history, as well as some of the most controversial…
The most controversial Met Gala looks
Rihanna in 2018
Bad Gal RiRi has never shied away from a bit of controversy, but she certainly shook things up during 2018’s Met Gala, when the theme was ‘Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.’
To celebrate the theme, Rihanna went pretty literal, wearing a papal mitre, which in layman’s terms is the ceremonial head dress worn by bishops. The hitmaker paired the controversial headdress with a stunningly opulent mini dress and matching robe by Maison Margiela Artisanal.
Although she undoubtedly looked incredible, Rihanna did face a bit of backlash for the look, as she was accused of disrespecting the Catholic church by using the papal mitre as a costume piece.
Cher in 1974
While many people don’t realise just how far the Met Gala dates back, celebrities have travelled far and wide to attend the prestigious event since it was launched in 1948.
Many years before social media became a thing, Cher sparked controversy in 1974 when she wore a drop-dead gorgeous naked illusion dress, for that year’s ‘Romantic and Glamorous Hollywood Design’ theme.
The iconic outfit, which has been re-imagined by designers and stars many times over the years, featured a sheer, jewel-encrusted jumpsuit layered with a feathered fringe. Beautiful.
Bob Mackie, who designed the outfit and attended the bash alongside Cher, said in 2025: “I’ve never seen so many photographers just come out of the shadows at the Met and take her picture.
“And, of course, she was in every newspaper the next day, and they’ve been printing it in the last 50 years, over and over again.”
Kim Kardashian in 2022
Kim Kardashian could have been featured in this list many times over for her controversial Met looks, but the one that divided opinion the most was her 2022 for the ‘In America: An Anthology of Fashion’ Gala.
She famously wore the actual dress Marilyn Monroe wore when she sang Happy Birthday Mr President to John F. Kennedy in 1962. Kim spoke publicly about needing to go on an extreme diet to fit into the dress, which could not be altered due to its historical relevance.
A number of historians have criticised the decision of Ripley’s Believe It or Not! to lend the dress to Kim, due to the risk of the garment being damaged.
Kim only wore the actual dress on the red carpet before swapping into a replica for the remainder of the event.
Just a year earlier, Kim’s all-black Balenciaga costume could also be a contender for her most controversial look, after she appeared on the red carpet covered head to toe in black, including a full face covering.
Cardi B in 2019
In 2019, Cardi B made headlines with her Met Gala appearance, not just by showing off her previously concealed baby bump for the first time, but with her iconic costume too.
She donned an oxblood red gem-encrusted Moschino gown that extended in concentric circles for around 10-feet. The stunning fit, custom made by Thom Browne, was inspired by the female form and even features 44-carat ruby nipples.
“I designed this dress for Cardi specifically because she has the ultimate beauty in a woman’s body, and that is what the dress is about for me,” Browne told Vogue at the time, “taking advantage of that beauty.”
The gown took more than 35 people and 2,000 hours to create, complete with a bugle-bead headpiece made in collaboration with Stephen Jones.
Sarah Jessica Parker in 2015
In 2015, Sarah Jessica Parker’s look garnered headlines for all the wrong reasons when she was accused of cultural appropriation.
The theme was ‘China: Through the Looking Glass,’ and SGP wore an H&M dress she designed herself, with a Philip Treacy headpiece, which some deemed offensive.
At the time, Mashable writer David Yi explained the backlash: “While some found Sarah Jessica Parker’s Phillip Treacy headpiece to be the night’s dramatic pièce de résistance, in my eyes, I saw blatant racism: the spot-on Asian Dragon Lady stereotype.
“Parker probably didn’t realise, then, that she was setting Asian women back 75 years to the 1930s to the first derogatory ‘dragon lady’ portrayal. The original term was used to describe strong Asian women, but was a pejorative that made them into villains.”
