Each year on the first Monday in May, stars flock to the stairs of the Metropolitan Museum of Art to celebrate the opening of the Costume Institute’s latest exhibit—and, along the way, take a few highly memorable beauty gambles.
Ever the free-spirited maverick, Lil’ Kim stepped out with bubblegum hair that was color calibrated to match her coat for the Met Gala s 1999’s “Rock Style” theme. Meanwhile, fellow guests Liv Tyler and Stella McCartney took a cue from their famous fathers by breaking with red carpet convention: They shunned heavy, high-definition makeup in favor of gleaming skin, bare shoulders, lip gloss, and extreme blush.
Kate Moss helped reinforce 2009’s “Model as Muse” theme by going full goddess: smoked lids, bronze skin, and a molten, metallic head scarf that demanded a certain kind of reverence. But it was 2013’s “Punk: Chaos to Couture” missive that encouraged its own kind of irreverent shock value—Anne Hathaway ditched her signature chestnut hair for peroxide blonde and Diane Kruger dip-dyed a soigné ponytail with a bolt of fuchsia pink. For actress Rooney Mara, though, no transformation was needed: The actress simply stuck with her signature subversive raven hair and oxblood lips.
This year’s theme at the Met Gala, "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination", is bound to encourage independent spirit in nearly every sense. And considering that cochair Rihanna is ever the beauty chameleon, speculation is already swirling around what boundary-pushing reveal she ll bring with her this year.
What will happen on the 2018 red carpet remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: From Beyoncé’s power ponytail to Kristen Stewart’s graphic silver gaze, these risk-taking beauty looks deserve an exhibition all their own.
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