Best Met Gala looks from the 2024 red carpet

Some of the best Met Gala moments are ones that are shrouded in mystery ... and when Rebecca Ferguson arrived on the carpet in an all-black ensemble by Thom Browne, you might have thought, “Oh, is that it?” But then came the dramatic unveiling. She threw open her cloak to reveal a tapestry of ominous birds (crows? ravens?), not to mention a sparkling sequined dress. While the colors may not have evoked a garden, it certainly told a story. — Emily Yahr

Tyla may have sung the hit “Water,” but for her Met Gala dress, that would have been a significant hazard: Her Balmain gown was made to look as if it were crafted from sand. The molded breastplate made it sexy. The hourglass handbag made it silly. The fragility of the dress — including the sparkly gold sand that dusted her skin — made it extremely on-theme. The gown was so delicate, she had to be lifted up the stairs. Campy, sexy, impractical: All of these factors make it a great Met Gala showing. — Maura Judkis

Taylor Russell made her Met Gala debut in a Loewe dress with a custom molded bodice painted to look like polished wood. Loewe is known for unexpected flourishes that glitch and recontextualize fashion norms. It’s not an obvious fit for a “garden” theme, which can bring to mind easy-breezy earth-mama gauze. But in Russell’s look, a tree doesn’t evoke nature so much as it evokes a natural resource to be harnessed and used by humans. It’s a little cold, a little hippie Mugler and not a little beautiful. — Shane O’Neill

I really dug the guests who leaned into the “Sleeping Beauty” concept of the Costume Institute show, and Greta Lee was the best to do it, in a gauzy Loewe shield dress. It looks like a ghost’s concept of a gown, floating around her body in search of a great personality to animate its past life. — Rachel Tashjian

Will Welch, the global editorial director of GQ, wore a brown suit by Evan Kinori, a San Francisco-based designer admired for his contemplative approach to menswear. I see a bit of ’90s Armani — when actors wore his fluid brown suits — and some Yohji Yamamoto in the mix of formal fabric and relaxed fit. — Rachel Tashjian

We got a lot of “garden” at the Met this year, with flowers and florals in full bloom. But we didn’t get as much “time,” apart from Tyla’s hourglass purse, Wisdom Kaye’s suit with burned edges and a few ill-advised clock faces thrown around here and there. The Loewe dress worn by the British actor Ambika Mod was a happy exception. According to Vogue, the dress features a trompe l’oeil print of a 1951 Charles James gown. James’s designs inspired Dior’s New Look, which arguably makes him the grandfather of what we consider modern fashion. It’s a gown on a gown, or at least the illusion of a gown on a gown, and a quiet nod to the inherent impermanence of both style and garment. — Shane O’Neill

Some Met Gala looks were more literal than others — and “The Bear” star Ayo Edebiri’s dress by Jonathan Anderson’s Loewe looked like a garden sprouting up from the ground thanks to 3D appliqué flowers, according to Vogue. The colorful blooms stood out among the more neutral looks on the carpet, as did her floral- and bird-inspired jewelry. — Emily Yahr

Balenciaga designer Demna has entered a deep mind meld with Cristobal Balenciaga. This dress, which Nicole Kidman saw in an Irving Penn photograph, is a recreation of a Balenciaga dress from the 1950s. What’s great about Balenciaga’s designs is that they were so sci-fi and purist, so when Demna updates them for today, they don’t look dated at all. — Rachel Tashjian

Bad Bunny managed to be both outside of time and on-trend. The Margiela suit, designed by John Galliano, was marked with what looked like white tailor’s chalk, which nodded to Maison Margiela’s deconstructionist roots and to the temporality of garment construction. The hoof shoes were a refreshing nod to fauna on a red carpet dominated by flora. The look also encapsulated several trends seen elsewhere on the red carpet tonight. Black and blue? Check! A gothy cluster of black flowers? Check! Corsetry? It’s not visible, but according to him, underneath the suit jacket? Check! I still can’t get behind those Margiela hats with the lumpy bumpy stuffing encased in what appears to be a torn pair of tights (Google “pantyhose doll” and tell me that you don’t see it too) but I appreciate the Henry VIII silhouette and the bold Gestalt of the whole thing. — Shane O’Neill