Madonna's 8 Met Gala looks that made her a fashion icon
Hip-hop diva, businesswoman, country music maven... Madonna has always had the ability to transport us from one world to another.
Madonna, always true to her music, has taken us from one world to another: from English aristo to hip-hop diva, country-music maven to corporate warrior, and earth mother to disco yogi – but nowhere is this more visible than on the Met Gala red carpet. Although appearances of Madonna in full fashion regalia have become a scarcity in recent years, boy does she take a theme and run with it when she does decide to grace those hallowed museum steps. “It is never just about Madonna’s look – she truly lives each of her reincarnations,” once said her friend Edward Enninful. Here are the queen of pop’s most talked-about Met looks.
This article was previously published on Vogue US
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2018
As Jean Paul Gaultier’s date to the Met Gala 2018, Madonna and her longtime collaborator tapped into the Catholic tropes that shaped her upbringing and inspired her music. The gothic gown accessorised with a crown of crosses, black veil and stacked rosaries was not her only look of the night, however. For a surprise performance of “Like a Prayer”, Madonna, incognito in a cloaked robe and flanked by a choir of monks, ascended the steps of the Met’s Great Hall, shrugged off her cassock and belted out the 1989 banger. Underneath was a white Jean Paul Gaultier gown with a satin bustier and diaphanous lengths. Saint versus sinner? Madonna ticked off both.
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2017
The best reaction to Madonna’s camouflage Moschino gown (complete with cargo net train, no less) came from Sarah Paulson, whose priceless expression upon seeing the superstar’s get-up turned into one of the night’s much-tweeted memes. Madonna, none the wiser, continued to pose with her date, Jeremy Scott – one leather gloved hand on hip and dripping in costume jewellery.
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2016
The inspo behind the popstar’s custom lace Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci gown in 2016? The therapeutic kinesiology tape she wears for her fatigued muscles on tour. Rather than enhancing Madonna's red-carpet performance, the black straps wound around her arms, legs and torso made it “hard to pee”, according to E!’s roving reporter on the night.
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2013
Dressed by former Givenchy creative director and Met Gala 2013 co-host Riccardo Tisci, Madonna ticked off the punk theme with as many metallic studs as the fashion house could feasibly fasten to one tartan blazer. Sans trousers and with a wisp of fishnet to preserve her modesty, the “Papa Don’t Preach” performer tapped into the spirit underlining the dresscode. “I wanted to do my own thing, but put my own twist on it,” she told reporters lining the red carpet, before referencing Sid Vicious, Nancy Spungen “and that whole era” as her influences.
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2011
Madonna joined Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Hudson in Stella McCartney’s gang at the celebration of Alexander McQueen. Unlike her usual Met Gala looks (read: enthusiastic to the point of bonkers), 2011 was more old-Hollywood than outré. Her blue-silk gown with silver stars embellishing the sleeves and train was in line with Madonna, the actor, who spent much of 2011 promoting W.E., the British historical romantic drama film written and directed by herself.
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2015
The 2015 red carpet might have been overshadowed by Rihanna’s Guo Pei omelette train, but Madonna still gave good gown in Moschino. Wearing Jeremy Scott’s graffiti-heavy fall/winter 2015 collection – as well as Scott’s other date, Katy Perry – the crowning moment of the night was the designer getting down on one knee to kiss Madonna's gloved hand for the cameras.
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2009
The 2009 look was a collab between Madonna and Marc Jacobs, who resided at the creative helm of Louis Vuitton at the time. The duo designed a headpiece to rival anything Sarah Jessica Parker might wear, and amped up the accessories game with a pair of thigh-high patent leather boots, her trademark fingerless gloves, kabbalah bracelet and jewellery bearing religious iconography.
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2019
In a simpler time – when the party was actually inside the Met, rather than on the red carpet outside – Madonna wore a floral Versace gown and cape printed with astrology motifs.
