The 10 Best Met Gala Beauty Looks of All Time, According to <em>Bazaar</em> Editors
From Rihanna’s monochromatic pink makeup to Amber Valletta’s Marie Antoinette-inspired curls, these looks over the decades are forever embedded in our minds
Reported by Harper's Bazaar.
The Met Gala is, technically, a fundraiser. In practice, it's the one night a year when beauty gets to be genuinely unhinged — and the looks that last aren't the polished ones. They're the ones that committed, fully and without apology, to a concept. According to Harper's Bazaar editors, the all-time greatest Met Gala beauty moments share exactly that quality: intention worn like armor.
Rihanna's 2017 appearance for the Comme des Garçons exhibition remains a masterclass in monochromatic dressing — not just from the neck down. Her bold red lip bled seamlessly into a wash of matching color swept across temples, cheeks, and under the lash line, with a sparkly inner-corner highlight finishing the look. Zendaya that same year countered with volume and warmth: natural auburn curls and a coral lip that mirrored her gown's palette — proof that restraint, done correctly, is its own kind of maximalism. Then there's Lady Gaga in 2019, delivering sculptural lashes and hot pink lipstick courtesy of makeup artist Sarah Tanno — a defiant reminder, per Bazaar's beauty director Jenna Rosenstein, that the Met Gala is essentially a costume party and should be treated accordingly.
The Looks That Rewrote the Rules
Some of the most enduring moments belong to women who understood that beauty is narrative. Cher's 1985 purple metallic eye and holographic lip still functions as the Platonic ideal of party makeup, four decades on. Taylor Swift's bleached bob in 2016 — dubbed "Bleachella" — was a jarring left turn that still reads as one of her sharpest style pivots. Billie Eilish's 2021 platinum bob and smoky eye channeled Marilyn Monroe with enough edge to avoid costume territory entirely. And Princess Diana in 1996 — her Dior slip and sapphire choker get the headlines, but her softly smoky eyes and rosy lip carried the same quiet authority she always did.
The newer entries on the list skew weirder, which is the right direction. Zendaya's 2024 co-chair looks included a Gothic, skeletal beauty moment — thin brows, layered smoky eyes by Raoul Alejandre — that felt genuinely haunting. FKA Twigs dusted crystals from buzzcut to cheekbone in a look that was simultaneously dainty and maximalist. Amber Valetta's 2004 Marie Antoinette fantasy, with pouf curls, rosy cheeks, and fuchsia lip, proved that baroque references land harder when someone actually commits.
The Met Gala red carpet has always belonged to fashion, but these ten looks make the case that beauty is the sharper weapon — and the women who use it best aren't playing it safe.
Read the original at Harper's Bazaar.
