Behind every great look from a Met Gala heavyweight, there are usually five equally brilliant looks, and then one terrible one. The first.
After years of highly publicized, painstakingly documented Met Galas, it can be hard to recall the looks from just five years ago, let alone the 2000s or, god forbid, the 2010s. As such, many celebrities can't get enough of their Met debut is easy to hide, especially when there's a long list of iconic looks to bury it under.
But in line with this year's Met exhibition, Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, we're digging up some of those long-forgotten early Met looks. Rihanna may be red carpet royalty now, but she was once a prom queen at Georges Chakra. And Bella Hadid may be the queen of slinky chic, but even she had a messy debut (at custom Topshop, no less). Here we look back at the first time our devout Met heavyweights set foot on those hallowed steps.
Zendaya
The reigning Crown Princess of the Met Gala and this year's host, Zendaya, first attended the Met Gala in 2015, when she was just 18 years old. The theme was China: Through the Looking Glass, and Baby Z wore a dress by Sicilian designer Fausto Puglisi, who you probably know from his more recent work at Roberto Cavalli. "We spent so much time together with her and Law Roach, her stylist and her father," Puglisi told the Standard in 2023. "She is so profound. Such an artist, she is so deep."
Bella Hadid
Bella Hadid also made her debut in 2015, together with her long-time friend Hailey Bieber (then Baldwin). She wore a custom Topshop, if you can believe it, with a tight topknot, a gold clutch and painted black toenails. It won't go down as one of Bella's best looks, but the innocence of it is quite adorable. Plus, RIP Topshop.
Beyonce
Queen Bey first appeared at the Met Gala in 2008, when the theme was Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy. She wore a soft pink Givenchy dress with emerald green earrings, which didn't fit the theme at all, but that's okay, because a) people didn't adhere to the dress code nearly as well back then, and b) Beyoncé can do whatever she wants.
Rihanna
Bad Gal RiRi arrived at the 2007 Met Gala in the middle of her Good Girl Gone Bad era, complete with a bang-heavy pixie cut and fingerless gloves. She paired these rather significant accessories with a crystal-embellished Georges Chakra dress, giving her look a bizarre prom-esque energy. The theme was Poiret: King of Fashion. She's come this far.
Nicole Kidman
If we go all the way back to 2003, we have Nicole Kidman and, according to Getty, an "unidentified man" (aka Adrien Brody, who won Best Actor at the Oscars that year). This was Kidman's first Met, the theme was Goddess: The Classical Mode, and to be honest, Nicole looked quite goddess-like in her sheer Tom Ford-era Gucci.
Victoria Beckham
Victoria Beckham also graced the Met's footsteps for the first time in 2003, dressed in Dolce and Gabbana. Flanked by both designers, Posh exuded 2000s glamor with strappy stilettos, a huge blowout and a mega tan.
Jared Leto
To put it bluntly, men are generally not the most reliable people at the Met Gala. There are a few who stand out each year - Harry Styles in 2018, Timothée Chalamet in 2021 and Brian Tyree Henry in 2023 - but few are actually consistently big hitters. So like it or not, one of the most talked about men on the Met Gala red carpet is Jared Leto. He made his debut in 2016, when the theme was Manus x Machina: Fashion In An Age Of Technology, wearing Gucci.
Lady Gaga
With so many excellent Met looks to choose from, Gaga's 2015 red carpet debut is often forgotten, in part because it only technically her debut. She performed at the 2010 Met Gala, but didn't make it to the red carpet. For China: Through the Looking Glass, she wore a Balenciaga kimono-style ensemble with feathers. It's not bad, but far from her best.
Kim Kardashian
The first of the Kar-Jenner clan to appear at the Met Gala (as Kanye West's date) was Kim Kardashian in 2013, who wore a now infamous floral Givenchy number while pregnant with her first child, North West. The dress is most remembered for spawning memes, and Kim is very aware of this - in fact, she told Vogue in 2019 that she "cried about it all the way home." Perhaps this is why she has been so fanatical at Met Galas ever since.
Kendall Jenner
Before Kendall wore phoenix feathers, feathers and bleached eyebrows like a fashion girl on the Met steps, she played it safe in 2014, with a column dress that was-you guessed it-Topshop custom. The Phillip Green jumpscare behind her is a bit of a giveaway.
Kylie Jenner
The number of Kar-Jenners present at the Met always poses a problem, either because naysayers wonder why they were invited in the first place or because actual Kardashians wonder why they weren't invited (Khloé was notably absent from the stylish steps until 2022). Kylie finally broke into the fort in 2016, when the theme was Manus X Machina and the Kar-Jenner clan were in their Balmain Army era. Everyone wore Olivier Rousteing designs, except Kendall, who wore Versace. A bit cheeky.
Serena Williams
Serena Williams is a longtime visitor to the Met and first attended the gala in 2004, when the theme was Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion And Furniture In The 18th Century. Serena wasn't exactly wearing a robe à la française, but it was 2004, so who cares? Apparently not Anna Wintour, as Williams hosted the 2019 Met Gala.
Gigi Hadid
Gigi Hadid made her debut the same year as her sister, first climbing the Met steps in 2015. At the time, older sister Gigi was considerably more famous (Gigi would win International Model of the Year in 2016, while Bella has only just made her runway debut), so her first Met is much better documented than the few anomalous photos we have of Bella. The theme was China: Through the Looking Glass, and Hadid wore a crimson Diane von Furstenberg dress.
A$AP Rocky
One of the few other interesting men you can see at the Met every year is A$AP Rocky, who you'll now remember for his impressive co-pilot work alongside Met Gala queen Rihanna. He wore quilts, kilts and ruffled tuxedo shirts, but first, in 2014, he wore a basic black suit, with a long Topshop tuxedo jacket, while attending with his model ex-girlfriend Chanel Iman. Topshop's prominence in Met Gala debuts needs to be studied.
Cardi B
Cardi B has only attended four Met Galas, but in that time she's already cemented herself as one of the evening's most exciting newcomers. She usually opts for figure-hugging silhouettes with full skirts and trains, or goes so heavy on the bling that you wonder how she can even walk. For her first Met Gala, Cardi didn't disappoint, arriving in a custom Moschino, matching the brand's former creative designer Jeremy Scott. Royal, pearly and richly filled with adornments, the already impressive look was completed with a sacred headpiece.
Blake Lively
It may seem crazy that Blake made her Met Gala debut at the same time as Beyoncé, but this was 2008 and Gossip Girl was at the height of its hype. With the help of Serena Van Der Woodsen, Lively had established herself as a style icon of the time, and so she attended the ball. The theme was Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy, and she wore a strapless Ralph Lauren dress with black plumage at the hem. Not very superhero-esque, but maybe that's what the gloves meant.
Sienna Molenaar
If indie sleaze ever becomes the theme of the Met Gala (unlikely, but stranger things have happened), you better believe this gold Burberry mini dress and black sequin tights combo would make another appearance. It was worn by Miller to the 2006 Met, where the theme was AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion, so Burberry was pretty good. The actress even rewore her Met look for a Noel Gallagher night out at Chiltern Firehouse in 2019, which may be one of the first public iterations of a Met outfit ever. We are a sustainable queen.
