From 1981 to 2025, These Met Gala Beauty Looks Are the Undisputed Best of All Time

For fashion and beauty lovers alike, there is no more exciting event than the Met Gala. The annual affair, canonically hosted on the first Monday of May at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, is where a select few celebrities, designers and, on occasion, royals, don fashion’s finest to fundraise for the museum’s Costume Institute. There is always a theme, innumerable photographers, and a lavish red carpet filled with dazzling attendees dripping in custom couture. But as we well know, it’s the hair, makeup and nail details that bring a look to its final form.

Every year, beauty editors (myself included) pore over their screens to spy the small details that separate the good looks from the great ones. After all, it was Zendaya’s villainous glam, complete with '20s-inspired eyes, drawn-on brows, and glossed, vampy lips, that earned her 2024 Maison Margiela ensemble icon status. Doechii’s custom Louis Vuitton suit didn’t earn the headlines from her 2025 Met Gala debut—her blushed LV logo-shaped face stamp did. So when it comes to the most memorable Met Gala looks of all time, we consider how beauty helps fashion find its mark.

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From the '80s to modern day, Who What Wear beauty editors surveyed decades of Met Gala beauty looks to deem the best of the best. Below, our favourites from Met Gala vets like Rihanna to newcomers like Chappell Roan.

The Best Met Gala Beauty Looks of All Time

We can't kick off the conversation around the best Met Gala beauty moments without mentioning Cher's bold eye look from 1985. In true '80s fashion, the singer accentuated her orbs with vivid violet eye shadow and rimmed her lash line with black eyeliner kohl—a look that somehow feels timeless despite the strong nostalgic nods.

"Zendaya's 2024 Met Gala makeup look has lived in my head rent-free for two calendar years," says WWW beauty editor Kaitlyn McLintock. "The theme that year was Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, and she went all out with a 1920s-inspired look: vinyl oxblood lips, blown-out red eye shadow and skinny brows. It was a Maleficent-meets-flapper-girl look that left my jaw on the floor."

The year was 2019, and (nearly) everyone brought their very campiest looks to those famous steps. One standout that I'm not soon to forget was Lady Gaga's art-pop eyes, complete with an ultra-graphic eyeliner moment, a hot pink lip (that perfectly matches her fuchsia Brandon Maxwell gown, BTW), and the most exaggerated metallic strip lashes I've ever seen. If all of my memories fade in old age, I'll likely still remember this look.

"Rihanna always delivers for the Met Gala, but this makeup look has lived rent-free in my mind since 2017," says WWW assistant beauty editor Sabrina Talbert. "The outfit is gorgeous, but I think the exaggerated blush really brings it all together in a dramatic way. It makes her eye pop, and I adored the way she paired it with a berry-coloured lip. And considering how far we've come with blush and how much people embrace it now, it truly feels like she was ahead of her time with this one."

Gigi Hadid is the unsung beauty chameleon of the Met Gala. Not only has the model been consistently delivering looks that make the best dressed list since 2015, but she's always changing her hair and makeup style for the big night. In 2024, however, Hadid leaned into her now-signature pinup style of hair and makeup—shaping her bob into old-school, glamorous curls and completing the look with matching red lips and cheeks.

If there’s one thing I know to be true, it’s that Lupita N’yongo knows how to nail a theme. The movie star took the 2019 Camp theme seriously with glittery eyes and brows (a trend she carried into her 2025 look), completing the look with symbolic gold hair combs placed throughout her hair.

"I love when celebs stick to the Met Gala's annual theme. I love it even more when they don't just stick to it but embrace it entirely," says McLintock. "Lily Collins is the perfect example. She attended the 2019 Met Gala with bright lilac eye shadow and a sky-high bouffant covered in flowers. The theme that year was Camp: Notes on Fashion. She nailed it."

"If there’s one thing we know about Ari, it’s that she can rock a wing like nobody’s business," says WWW senior beauty editor Jamie Schneider. "I’m obsessed with the literal interpretation of winged liner here—so ethereal. I think about those handmade 3D petals to this day!"

"I remember my jaw truly dropped when I saw Ciara walk onto the 2019 Met Gala carpet for Camp: Notes on Fashion," says WWW Beauty Director Erin Jahns. "I'm a sucker for emerald, and between the dress, the hair and the makeup, I was (and am still) absolutely gobsmacked."

Iman will forever be a fashion and beauty icon, and this jewel-toned glam from the Eighteenth-Century Woman exhibition in 1981 is a master class in winter glam. (Yes, the Met Gala used to be held in December, as it was in this photo.) Walking arm in arm with Calvin Klein, the model flashed a smile whilst showing off her peachy-pink blush and sultry, blue-black smoky eye.

"We love a commitment to the theme!" Schneider exclaims. "Amber Valletta absolutely crushed it in 2004 (the theme was Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the 18th Century) with a full Marie Antoinette–inspired getup, featuring powdered curls, petal-pink cheeks and faux beauty marks."

Can I be honest? We don't talk about FKA Twigs's editorial taste in beauty enough—nor her otherworldly glam from the 2024 Met. Her inky tresses were woven into a crown-like structure atop her head, and her glam was kept moderately simple. Well, if you take into account her glowy skin and shimmery lids and not the dozens of crystals embellishing her face, neck, and half-buzzed scalp. One of the most iconic beauty looks to grace any red carpet, IMO.

"If Zendaya channelled Maleficent [at the 2024 Met Gala], then Elle Fanning channelled Sleeping Beauty (a titular role she has experience playing)," muses McLintock. "With true glass skin and a crystallised Balmain gown to match, she looked like an ice fairy walking up the Met's iconic staircase."

Euphoria alum and past WWW cover star Barbie Ferreira took the term "flapper girl" and ran with it. The actress's ultra-glamorous '20s-inspired look keeps up with her intricately beaded dress thanks to a set of violet-shaded eyes, fluttery lashes, drawn-on brows and ringlet curls—pulled together by a single strand of pearls dangling from her middle part.

The 2025 Met Gala may have been rapper Doechii's first, but this LV-emblazoned look ensured that it won't be her last. The self-described "Swamp Princess" stopped us dead in our tracks with her raised LV beauty mark, bringing special-effects makeup into the Met Gala world in a way we didn't know we needed. (It also sends a simple message: She is fashion.)

"I mean, come ON," Jahns exclaims. "I've maintained for years that Emily Ratajkowski might not actually be human (and I mean that in the absolute best way possible), but this Cher-inspired look designed by Peter Dundas sent me over the edge. I love a retro beat to a look, and the '70s feel here is absolute perfection."

"This was easily one of my favourite looks from the 2024 Met Gala," says Talbert. "The pixie cut was elegant, and her eye makeup, which had an icy undertone, perfectly paired with her Swarovski catsuit (made up of 98,000 blue and purple crystals). It had the perfect amount of shimmer, down to the iridescent highlighter she was wearing."

I mean it—Hadid is a glam go-getter at the Met Gala. Take, for instance, this '60s-inspired look that the model and business owner donned at the 2021 event, complete with flowing mahogany tresses and vivid pastel blue eye shadow. Sure, Hadid's custom Prada gown was eye-catching, but the transformational beauty is what made this look a showstopper.

Who could forget Bleachella? Taylor Swift's last Met Gala attendance in 2016—where she also co-chaired the event—made waves thanks to her bleach-blonde, shaggy hairstyle and ultra-dark lips. It was possibly one of the biggest indicators of her upcoming Reputation era; we just didn't know it at the time.

Rihanna again, because we can't discount this gloriously frosty look at the 2023 Met. The multi-hyphenate paired cherry-red lips with icy matte eye shadow, a nod to the man of the hour's signature palette (the theme was Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty), plus a pair of eyelash-adorned sunglasses—not shown here, but very worth mentioning.

"As if the custom Ralph Lauren column dress (covered in 36,000 black and silver crystals!) weren't enough, Janelle Monáe really sealed the deal with that perfect red lip," says McLintock. "Obviously, as a research-obsessed beauty editor, I have the ID: Armani Beauty Lip Maestro Liquid Lipstick in 201 (£38)

"I still remember the way my jaw fell to the floor when I saw Tyla descend on that 2024 carpet," says Schneider. "A bronzy, sun-kissed glow is already the singer’s signature, but she turned it up to the max with shimmery highlighter, cinnamon lip and tonnes of body gloss. And that dusting of sand on her shoulders? Perfection!"

"This was Emma Chamberlain's first Met, and she really delivered with her makeup," says Talbert. "I thought the neon green eyeliner paired with a smoky olive green–gold base and bold lashes created an effortlessly dramatic look. Something about it felt very Twiggy-inspired, and it complemented her dress perfectly."