Fire Up Your Fashion Memories With the Most Unforgettable Met Gala Moments of All Time

Sure, the Met Gala is about fashion.

But it's also about the intangibles: The anticipation that builds as you're waiting to see what Rihanna's going to wear. The exes who walked the red carpet together once upon a time but have since found new plus-ones. The hugs, the snubs, the side-eye.

And then there are the years where all anyone remembers is the after-party. Or the impromptu dance-off, the illicit group selfie, or the dress that lights the way for all. And wait, is that a member of the royal family?!

Regardless, whatever your fancy, the Met Gala provides. The 2023 theme is "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty," in honor of the inimitable late designer who headed the houses of Chanel and Fendi in addition to his own eponymous line, so we're expecting the parade of looks to include haute couture galore—and hats off to any celeb paying tribute to his beloved feline companion Choupette.

'Twould be the purrrfect touch.

So, with the first Monday in May being right now, jog your passion for fashion ahead of tonight's main event by scrolling through these unforgettable Met Gala moments from years past:

For her red-carpet entrance at the 2021 Met Gala, the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star had the world buzzing with her shocking faceless all-black look: a custom ensemble designed by Demna Gvasalia, creative director of Balenciaga. And if you're wondering how Kim was able to see through the material of her outfit, turns out, she couldn't!

"The whole evening of the Met Ball, Kim couldn't see, and she couldn't breathe," mom Kris Jenner revealed during a November 2021 interview. "So, my boyfriend Corey [Gamble] was walking around—we were all together and he was leading her to where we were supposed to go and helping with her ponytail. It was suddenly—he was somebody pulling her around, and a hairstylist all at the same time."

Lil Nas X gives us what's he got until he can't anymore. The singer changed twice during his entrance for the 2021 Met Gala. One of his looks, which included a Versace suit made of gold armor, has still left stars in our eyes.

RiRi makes the list time and time again for her groundbreaking fashions, but Rihanna Navy went into a frenzy when the star walked the red carpet of the 2021 Met Gala with boyfriend A$AP Rocky. It was fate for the two to arrive as one of the last couples of the evening, since they practically shut down the carpet with their adorable entrance.

Princess Diana attended her first and only Met Gala in 1996, a year before her shocking death. Her lingerie-inspired gown was controversial among those who felt she should have worn something more conservative (which she almost did, concerned she might embarrass her teenage son, Prince William), but the navy satin slip dress—designed by John Galliano for Dior— was an instantly iconic look.

Through 2019, the Princess of Wales and Princess Beatrice are the only members of Britain's royal family who have attended the Met Gala, though it's hard to imagine Prince Harry and Meghan Markle not making their own grand entrance one of these days.

We'll keep this short and sweet: Each and every time Rihanna ascends the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a moment in Met Gala history is made. We bow down over and over again. 

The 2014 Met Gala went down in infamy thanks to a certain elevator ride starring Beyoncé, Jay-Z and Solange Knowles. Leaked surveillance footage showed the rapper being physically accosted by Bey's little sister in the lift at NYC's Standard Hotel while his wife made no move to intervene, prompting the notoriously private trio to release a rare public statement reassuring anyone who was interested (aka, everybody) that they remained a "united family."

Though we'll probably never know exactly what caused the altercation, Beyoncé's remix of "Flawless" alluded to it when she rapped, "Of course sometimes s--t goes down when there's a billion dollars on an elevator."

Swifties can trace Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston's romance back to the 2016 Met Gala, where they had a full-on dance party. Less than a month later, the singer and Calvin Harris would go their separate ways and she'd enjoy a whirlwind summer romance with the British actor.

George Clooney and Amal Clooney made their Met Gala debut as husband and wife in 2015, and Amal would return as a co-chair of the event in 2018. 

Just one week after Beyoncé dropped Lemonade, which shed new light on her and Jay-Z's marital turmoil, the performer showed up to the 2016 soiree without her usual plus-one. (Cue mass hysteria from the Beyhive.) She did have the support of Solange that evening, who coincidentally was dressed in lemon yellow.

Kim Kardashian won't soon forget her very first Met Gala in 2013, where the expectant reality-TV superstar arrived alongside Kanye West in an eye-popping floral print by Givenchy. Daughter North West was born a month later—and two years later, Kim poked fun at herself by wearing the same floral design for Halloween. "Still fits...," she captioned the moment on social media. 

Sarah Jessica Parker and the late Alexander McQueen punked out in matching tartan at the Met Gala in 2006 to celebrate "AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion."

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but this one of Jeremy Scott sandwiched between his 2016 Met Gala dates Nicki Minaj and Demi Lovato is rather priceless. After the former Disney star accused the rapper of throwing "shade" on Instagram, she further alluded to the awkward event (without naming names) in an interview with Billboard in which she opened up about her less-than-dreamy night two years prior. 

"I had a terrible experience," she recalled in 2018. "This one celebrity was a complete bitch and was miserable to be around. It was very cliquey."

What happens inside the Met Gala stays in the Met Gala, or at least that was Anna Wintour's goal when she banned selfies in 2015. What is this, the Oscars?!

But two years later, Kylie Jenner's crew gathered in the bathroom to take this sneaky snapshot. The result? A Kodak moment that will stand the test of time (and probably didn't involve Kodak). 

In 2018, Madonna appeared atop the stairs of the Great Hall with an unforgettable production of "Like a Prayer." The performance, which also featured the pop icon's rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," fit right in with the event's theme that year, "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination." Stairway to heaven, indeed. 

Dressed in the revenge catsuit to end all revenge catsuits, Bella Hadid expertly navigated what could have been quite the awkward interaction with ex-boyfriend The Weeknd and his date for the 2017 Met Gala, Selena Gomez. An insider told E! News that the supermodel kept her distance from the couple throughout the evening, but Bella and the "Blinding Lights" singer ended up reconciling a year later. Then broke up again.

Jaden Smith redefined fearless fashion when he brought his freshly chopped dreadlocks with him to the Met Gala in 2017. The unlikely accessory not only raised eyebrows, but also started somewhat of a tradition for the envelope-pushing artit. In 2018, the gold certification plaque for his song "Icon" was his Met Gala date.

Claire Danes arrived at the 2016 Met Gala in a light blue ball gown fit for a tech-savvy Disney princess. It turned out that the Homeland star's Zac Posen confection featured thousands of hand-sewn L.E.D. lights that illuminated the dance floor.  

Lady Gaga schooled all comers in the art of "Camp: Notes on Fashion," the theme of 2019's Met Gala, when she arrived in a voluminous pink Brandon Maxwell ballgown that was only the beginning. Several nesting-doll looks later, she was down to her luxe skivvies and the crowd was on its knees.

And visit E! Online's 2023 Met Gala page for every photo and must-see moment from fashion's biggest night.