It’s hard to picture the Met Gala without Anna Wintour.
Vogue’s former editor in chief has been synonymous with the most talked-about fashion event of the year for over three decades. She first co-chaired the fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in 1995, and she’s been at the helm as chairperson since 1999.
Wintour, now 76, helped make the gala the world-renowned event it is today — and more lucrative. The cost of individual tickets for the Met Gala rose from $2,000 to $75,000 under her tenure; a table for 10 starts at $350,000.
Wintour doesn’t control every aspect of the gala, of course. Amy Odell, the author of “Anna: The Biography,” told the Italian women’s publication Grazia in 2016 that Wintour doesn’t choose the theme, which is often the most hotly anticipated element of the event.
However, Wintour decides who gets an invite, and she is known to approve almost every outfit A-list attendees wear on the Met Gala red carpet.
And Wintour, of course, arrives at the event in designer looks as well. Take a look back at every look she has worn for fashion’s biggest night.
Wintour wore a sparkly gold top for the 1989 Met Gala.
Wintour became the editor in chief of Vogue in 1988, a little over a year before the 1989 Met Gala, which had a “The Age of Napoleon: Costume from Revolution to Empire, 1789-1815” theme.
The silhouette of Wintour’s statement top nodded to the theme, as her pearl necklace and double-breasted top resembled the jackets soldiers wore during Bonaparte’s reign.
Wintour let her top be the focus of her ensemble, pairing it with a black skirt and tights.
Wintour kept her outfit simple for the 1990 Met Gala.
The Met Gala theme in 1990 was “Théâtre de la Mode — Fashion Dolls: The Survival of Haute Couture.”
Some attendees wore funky looks to the event, but it wasn’t common for people to dress for the theme like it is today. Wintour kept her look simple in a silky minidress and trench coat.
Wintour attended the 1993 Met Gala in a purple gown honoring former Vogue editor Diana Vreeland.
Wintour stepped out at the “Diana Vreeland: Immoderate Style” gala in a silky purple dress with an asymmetrical hemline and a white cardigan.
She carried her iconic sunglasses in her hand, of course.
Wintour’s dress for the “Orientalism: Visions of the East in Western dress” gala in 1994 featured lace detailing.
Wintour’s silver, silky dress hit her mid-thigh, and the bodice was covered in sheer lace. She paired the daring dress with a black-and-white fuzzy coat and a yellow necklace.
Wintour co-chaired the Met Gala for the first time in 1995, attending the “Haute Couture” event in an ivory halterneck gown.
For her debut as a Met Gala co-chair, Wintour nailed the night’s straightforward theme in a silky floor-length gown. She paired the white dress with opera gloves and minimal jewelry.
The look was refined and elegant, encapsulating the “Haute Couture” theme of the 1995 Met Gala, sponsored by designers Karl Lagerfeld and Gianni Versace.
Wintour wasn’t co-chair in 1996, but she attended the “Christian Dior” event in a floral gown.
The 1996 event paid tribute to Christian Dior, and Wintour arrived in a dress designed by John Galliano, who began his 14-year tenure at Dior later that year.
The figure-hugging dress had a floral pattern and delicate spaghetti straps. She also wore a statement necklace and her sunglasses, of course.
Wintour returned as co-chair in 1997, arriving in a gold dress for the Gianni Versace-themed Met Gala.
The 1997 Met Gala paid homage to Gianni Versace, who had died after being shot in Miami months prior.
The late designer was known for his love of working with metal embellishments and gold tones, so it was natural for Wintour to embrace those elements with her dress for the evening. She wore a shimmery, liquid-like gold gown with thin spaghetti straps.
She paired it with coordinating stilettos and a sparkly silver necklace.
Wintour kept things simple in a slip dress for the 1998 Met Gala, which was themed “Cubism and Fashion.”
Wintour’s look, a lightweight gold slip dress paired with a silver necklace and two bracelets, didn’t exactly scream “Cubism and Fashion.”
However, in Wintour’s defense, the trend of wearing an outfit that nodded to the Met Gala theme still wasn’t huge at the time.
In 1999, Wintour blurred the lines between high fashion and punk rock for the “Rock Style” Met Gala.
In 1999, Wintour graduated from being a standard co-chair to officially taking the reins as the Met Gala’s chairperson.
That year, the theme was “Rock Style,” highlighting how iconic performers like Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, and Alice Cooper, among others, influenced style trends.
Unlike the previous year, Wintour didn’t shy away from the theme. Her eclectic John Galliano couture look consisted of a purple embellished skirt, a patterned white top, and a tanned fur stole.
Wintour channeled Jackie Kennedy’s preppy yet elegant style at the 2001 Met Gala that paid tribute to the former first lady.
The 2000 Met Gala failed to go ahead after an exhibit of Coco Chanel’s works was canceled, but the event returned in 2001 with a gala dedicated to the late Jackie Kennedy Onassis and her fashion legacy. The former first lady is remembered for her sophisticated wardrobe, including vibrant dresses, pillbox hats, long-sleeve turtlenecks, and chic evening gowns.
Wintour arrived at the Met that year in a timeless ensemble: a floor-length gown comprising a classic, flowing white skirt and a shimmery, baby-blue high-neck top with floral embellishments and shoulder pads.
Wintour arrived in an angelic Christian Dior ensemble for the 2003 Met Gala.
Wintour’s ethereal Christian Dior look was perfect for the 2003 Met Gala’s “Goddess: The Classical Mode” theme, the first held after a 2002 hiatus following the 9/11 attacks.
The Vogue editor’s look consisted of a silky floor-length white gown paired with silver strappy stilettos and a cropped, fringed cardigan.
She wore one of her quirkiest Met Gala looks for the 2004 “Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the 18th Century” event.
Wintour partnered with Christian Dior again for her look at the 2004 Met Gala. She wore a pastel-green silk dress embellished around the neckline and a crystal-encrusted jacket with exaggerated shoulder pads.
The look is one of the most eclectic that Wintour has worn to the Met Gala, though it was in line with the year’s theme, which focused on the “refined elegance and delicate voluptuousness” of interiors and style during the 18th century, according to the Metropolitan Museum website.
The fashion editor wore a silky white gown with a floral-embellished cardigan for the 2005 “House of Chanel”-themed Met Gala.
Wintour stayed on theme in an asymmetrical white Coco Chanel gown and a coordinating cardigan with floral appliqué.
She accessorized with silver heels and a statement pearl necklace that featured a fringed pendant.
The 2006 Met Gala was about honoring British fashion, a perfect theme for Wintour, born in London.
“AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion” was the theme of the 2006 Met Gala.
While Wintour opted not to work with a British designer on her look for the evening, instead choosing Chanel, her ensemble oozed English elegance.
It consisted of a black sequined gown with pink rose details along the train and chest, and a flowing beige coat, perhaps a high-fashion nod to the iconic Burberry trench coat.
Wintour went for an edgy look at the 2007 Met Gala in a black sequin-heavy ensemble with scale-like detailing.
In 2007, the Met Gala theme was “Poiret: King of Fashion,” in honor of Paul Poiret, a designer famous for influencing the transition in women’s fashion from corsets to looser clothing items.
For the event, Wintour wore a sequined Chanel gown with a segment of black-and-white scales embroidered down the center and on the shoulders.
She embodied power and fashion at the 2008 “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy” Met Gala.
Wintour arrived on the red carpet in a silver Chanel gown designed by Karl Lagerfeld. The dress featured shell-shaped padding along the waist and shoulders.
The ensemble looked like it could’ve been pulled from the costume department of an epic sci-fi movie, proving she nailed the event’s fantasy theme.
For the 2009 Met Gala, themed “The Model As Muse: Embodying Fashion,” Wintour went for a black-and-white number.
Chanel designed her white dress, featuring a black oval pattern.
While it was one of the safer looks Wintour has worn to the Met Gala, it featured a few playful details, such as pointed shoulders and a thick black belt.
Wintour dazzled at the 2010 Met Gala in a silver-tiered Chanel dress.
She paired the silver Chanel dress with a sequin-heavy silver jacket and a necklace.
While elegant, it isn’t Wintour’s most on-theme Met Gala look of all time, given the event was themed “American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity.”
In 2011, Wintour wore an ombré sequined dress that paid tribute to Alexander McQueen.
The theme for the 2011 Met Gala was “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty,” in honor of the late British designer known for his originality and meticulous tailoring.
Honing in on McQueen’s mastery of tailoring, Wintour opted for a fitted Chanel gown adorned with tiny multicolored sequins to create a bold ombré effect. It also had a section of gold sequins running down the center.
She looked glamorous at the 2012 Met Gala that honored not one but two iconic fashion houses.
The 2012 Met Gala’s theme paid tribute to two iconic Italian designers: Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada.
In line with “Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations,” Wintour chose to wear a textured white Prada gown with a white fur stole.
The dress may have been Prada, but that doesn’t mean Wintour forgot about Schiaparelli. Her gown featured a large gold lobster, a not-so-subtle nod to Elsa Schiaparelli’s “lobster dress” from 1937.
Wintour put a playful, feminine spin on the 2013 Met Gala theme, “Punk: Chaos to Couture.”
Wintour wore a floral Chanel dress with white stilettos.
To the untrained eye, the gown might not scream “punk,” but the DIY-inspired pattern and the fact that a couture house created the dress nailed the theme.
The 2014 Met Gala was themed “Charles James: Beyond Fashion,” to which Wintour wore a ball gown covered in floral details.
Wintour’s Chanel gown had a sheer neckline and featured an array of red, blue, beige, and black flower petal appliqués. She accessorized with gold heels and a chunky silver necklace.
The ball gown was in line with the night’s theme, which paid tribute to the late designer Charles James, known for his “sculptural” and “scientific” approach to dressmaking, according to the Metropolitan Museum website.
The 2015 Met Gala theme was “China: Through the Looking Glass.” Wintour arrived in an orange-and-red floral gown.
The dress, designed by Chanel, was covered in varying-sized floral appliqués in orange and red hues.
Wintour’s color palette for the night was a subtle nod to the evening’s theme, “China: Through the Looking Glass.”
Wintour wore an intricately beaded white gown with fringed sleeves for the 2016 Met Gala.
Joining forces with Chanel for yet another Met Gala, Wintour arrived on the red carpet in a floor-length beaded gown with fringe detailing along the sleeves and train and light-brown feathers stitched around the chest.
The intricate detail throughout the dress paid tribute to the “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology” theme, which delved into how fashion designers create through their handiwork and machinery.
In 2017, she wore a gold-embellished gown with a playful feathery segment and a sheer train.
The 2017 Met Gala was themed after Rei Kawakubo, a Japanese designer known for challenging classic silhouettes through asymmetry and dress construction.
For the event, Wintour honored the theme and Kawakubo by wearing a technically adventurous Chanel gown that featured heavy embellishments, a feathery white skirt, and a semi-sheer train.
Wintour wore a semi-sheer silver dress with sleek cutouts and accessorized with a rosary at the “Heavenly Bodies”-themed Met Gala in 2018.
The 2018 Met Gala theme, “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination,” is among the most popular in recent history.
Wintour served a master class in abiding by the dress code when she arrived in a silver Chanel halterneck gown, overlaid with a sheer cream fabric with two delicate cutouts around the neck. The best part of her look was her dark silver rosary, which fit the theme perfectly.
The 2019 Met Gala was all about camp fashion, and Wintour delivered.
The 2019 Met Gala’s theme, “Camp: Notes on Fashion,” was about bold, exaggerated, playful looks.
Wintour, wearing Chanel again, nailed the assignment in a pink gown covered in pastel flowers and a coordinating pink-and-purple feathery stole.
Following a yearlong hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Met Gala returned with force in 2021 — and so did Wintour’s fashion.
“In America: A Lexicon of Fashion” was the 2021 theme of the Met Gala, paying tribute to the evolution of fashion and culture in the US.
Wintour broke from her tradition of wearing Chanel by choosing an Oscar de la Renta dress. Boldly printed with sunflowers, lilacs, and posies, the long-sleeved dress featured ruffles along the train and neckline.
She returned to wearing Chanel at the 2022 Met Gala, emphasizing “Gilded Glamour.”
In 2022, for the “Gilded Glamour” dress code, Wintour opted for a rainbow-colored Chanel dress embellished with tiny beads.
She added a touch more glamour with a coordinating feathery poncho.
The 2023 Met Gala honored the late Karl Lagerfeld, so it made sense that Wintour wore Chanel.
Lagerfeld, who died in February 2019 at age 85, was a fashion juggernaut best known for serving as the creative director of Chanel.
Paying tribute to the designer, with whom she was close friends for decades, Wintour attended the 2023 Met Gala in a white skirt and a sparkly sequinned Chanel coat.
Wintour enlisted Loewe to create an ornate floral jacket for the 2024 Met Gala.
With the 2024 Met Gala’s “Garden of Time” dress code in mind, Wintour stepped onto the red carpet in a black wool floor-length jacket. Floral appliqués made of feathers, beads, and pearls decorated the collar.
According to Loewe, the jacket was inspired by a 1889 cape designed by Charles Frederick Worth — regarded by some as the father of haute couture. Wintour let it shine by pairing it with an understated white silk-satin long-sleeve dress.
She chose a custom Louis Vuitton look for the 2025 Met Gala.
Wintour celebrated the 2025 Met Gala’s “Superfine: Black Dandysim” dress code in a custom Louis Vuitton by Pharrell Williams look.
A delicate floral appliqué adorned her silver gown, which she paired with a floor-length, pastel-blue coat. The coat had a blazer-style top, which fit the theme. Wintour said on the red carpet that the garment paid tribute to ensembles Virgil Abloh designed before his death in 2021.
She accessorized the look with a large blue brooch and necklaces.
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