The red carpet on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is still warm, but already, the reviews are in. This year’s “The Garden of Time” theme, pulled from J.G. Ballard’s story of the same name, inspired an array of classic, avant-garde, and straight-from-the-archive looks.
Some took the theme to unexpected heights. Others, according to our real-time experts, “should have just stayed home.” From Zendaya’s John Galliano wicked witch look to Tyla’s beachside Balmain couture, here are their thoughts on the night’s most jaw-dropping looks.
Jake Fleming, model and fashion commentator
Tyla
“Tyla devoured in this custom sand Balmain gown. The silhouette. The contouring. The simplicity and the extravagance complement each other so gorgeously. More Tyla in Balmain!!”
Wisdom Kaye
“Wisdom Kaye absolutely cleared in Robert Wun. The jacket. The hat. The train. Jaw was on the floor. The detail along the edges of the coat tickled my brain.”
Ashley Graham
“Ashley Graham in custom Ludovic de Saint Sernin. I mean wow. The most gorgeous shape and silhouette. The leather mixed with the metal! A dream if I’ve ever seen one!”
BeauJangless, performer
Bad Bunny
“I'm kinda living for the fact that Bad Bunny is giving us ultimate fashion conquistador. Colonizing the look of our Puerto Rican colonizer while being cinched for the GODS is what I wanna see! I wish he had one of those one-eyed glasses and a lil’ smoky eye instead of the shades but alas, we can't have it all can we?”
Tinx, author, host, and "TikTok's older sister"
Elle Fanning
“Absolutely die for Elle Fanning in Balmain. She looks like an ice sculpture or a glass slipper. I would love to touch this dress. I just have to know the texture of it. It’s such a work of art! I think that Elle Fanning always looks so good and I love that she stayed on theme while also staying true to her pretty, feminine aesthetic. The bird detail on each shoulder really makes this so magical and interesting to look at.”
Kendall Jenner
“I think Kendall Jenner is the prettiest person and this dress is just to die for. She said on the red carpet that it’s the first time the dress has been on a human as it’s 1999 archival Givenchy. I love the way that she styled her hair too. The whole thing makes me feel like she’s some warrior fairy princess going through a magical garden on a beautiful horse or something.”
Jamian Juliano-Villani, multidisciplinary artist
Nicole Kidman
“[Nicole Kidman was] understated, classic, but just enough without looking goofy or try-hard.”
Kaia Gerber
“Kaia Gerber should have just stayed home. Way too many ugly ass looks to really get into. Too many wings and flowers.”
Camila Cabello
“Camila Cabello ice purse is 🔥”
Delaney Rowe, actor and comedian
The Theme
“As someone who wore 2013 Miley Cyrus space buns to a Met Gala after-party and can hardly be trusted to shower after every workout, I feel beyond qualified to critique Met Gala looks with the ‘style expert’ designation. I’ve never understood a Met Gala theme—ever—and this certainly won’t be the year it finally resonates. So who knows and who cares? Everyone was dressed like they were sprouting from fertile earth. In other words, like an early Hozier song: vine heavy. I digress.”
Greta Lee
“As if I couldn’t already love this woman more, Greta catapulted my admiration for her to the next level in her Loewe look. I am a sucker for anything sheer and her incredible glam pulls it all together. This may have single-handedly convinced me to cut my own choppy bangs. Standby for my boyfriend breaking up with me shortly thereafter. Worth it.”
Demi Moore
“Because Demi is, perhaps, the single most beautiful woman on the planet, I feel as though I can critique this look without her giving one single shit about it. This Harris Reed look did not come together for me. This dress reminds me of when you get served a piece of salmon with a lot of bones in it and have to pick them out. Her glam is stunning but I don’t think I’ve ever been able to support the black and pink color combo with a clean conscience. But damn, she looked good in Charlie’s Angels 2.”
Omar Apollo
“It’s no secret I love Loewe. The real secret here is that I did not know what Omar Apollo looked like until I saw him on this carpet. Thus far, I’d only been seduced by his buttery vocals. This just in: he’s also a casual Adonis. I just think this is how all men should dress: sophisticated with a sexy nod to the feminine and for once and for all, can we all please get on board with the goatee? His beyond fabulous jewelry is making me feel bad about ever shopping at Claire’s.”
Catherine Mulligan, painter
The Theme
“The Garden of Time as a theme seems heavily ironic, almost too on-the-nose; at a time of mass death in Gaza and mass protest being suppressed, the rich and beautiful are throwing a party. The story by Ballard can be a critique both of the arrogant delusions of the wealthy (the flowers buy time, but nobody is truly immortal) and the delusions of art and aesthetics' capacity to transcend death. Beautiful objects might outlast us, but the pursuit of beauty can be antisocial and inhumane, and all are ultimately subject to the material reality of decay.”
Zendaya
“Zendaya wearing John Galliano was one of a handful who seemed to capture this ‘end of the American empire’ decadence. I didn’t think it was beautiful, or even pretty necessarily, but she had the presence of a little demon traipsing around, or maybe a ghost from the past, warning us of the horrors to come!”
Elena Velez, designer and founder of her eponymous label
Lauren Sánchez
“Lauren's had quite enough petty critique these last few weeks from closeted restaurateurs to need another hot take on her look, but here's one anyways. Sánchez has always struck me as a Madame Du Barry or Hester Prynne figure in her unlikely assimilation into fashion court and I love the subliminal defiance this dress leads with. I particularly like the mirrored component that suggests a reclamation of a sort of female gaze: hands on her hips, gaze forward, she's watching you watch her.”
Camila Cabello
“EV had initially been requested to work on Camila's look for the night so I've been waiting with bated breath to see the spectacular look we came second place to and I have to say I just love an up-do on her.
