If there’s one person we can always count on for a jaw-dropping Met Gala moment, it’s 12-time attendee Sarah Jessica Parker. Like Miss Carrie Bradshaw herself, Parker always finds a way to make a look her own while still dressing to theme with aplomb.
Such was the case in 2006, when Parker arrived on the arm of Alexander McQueen wearing a one-shoulder tartan look that was perfectly in step with the Anglomania of “Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion” theme. Parker left another lasting impression when she donned a two-tone duchesse satin gown to fête the Charles James exhibit in 2014. If there were any question as to who she was wearing, Parker had “Oscar de la Renta” embroidered in bold red cursive along her train. Perhaps the look that hit closest to home came in 2015, when Parker channeled her Sex And The City character in pedal pushers and a military-inspired coat designed by Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim of Monse. She added extra shine with blue satin Manolo Blahniks that looked as if they could have been a keepsake from her SATC days.
A true Met Gala veteran, Parker attended for the first time in 1995—the first year Anna Wintour took the reigns. For her inaugural Met, SJP wore a simple, black velvet dress. And while, clearly, the Met’s dress code has changed a lot over time, and she has always risen to the occasion. “I’ve spent time in various uncomfortable and unconventional seated positions in cars on the way to the Met Gala in order to respect the dress,” she told Vogue in 2015. She kept up that tradition in 2024, wearing a sculptural Richard Quinn golden birdcage dress for the “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” theme. “Your own comfort, it becomes very low priority. The priority is trying to present properly. It’s your responsibility to take care of the elements, on behalf of the designer, the milliner, hair stylist, makeup artist,” she told Vogue ahead of the 2024 Met. “This year, I’ll be standing.”
While we wait with bated breath to see if Sarah Jessica Parker hits the steps for 2025’s “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” let’s take a look back at her many Met Gala appearances.
SJP turned to British designer Richard Quinn for her 12th Met Gala, dressed like a gilded birdcage in the Garden of Time. “I had gone to the Sargent and Fashion exhibit at the Tate Britain and been inspired by a few works of art I saw there, but it was his collection that really seemed to instinctively interpret the theme,” Parker told Vogue ahead of the Met.
Parker paid homage to the Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley, a freed slave who went on to become First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln’s dressmaker. SJP and designer Christopher John Rogers designed her extravagant black-and-white gingham dress with one of Keckley’s designs in mind.
“Heavenly Bodies” proved a fan-favorite Met, thanks to guests’ commitment to the dress code. Parker proved one of the most dedicated in a gilded creation by Dolce Alta Moda that was covered in precious stones. On her head, she also wore a larger-than-life Neapolitan nativity scene. Talk about a crowning glory.
One part Carrie Bradshaw, one part Hamilton, Parker anointed Monse designers Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia as fashion stars. (The two are now co-creative directors of Oscar de la Renta.) SJP swapped the de rigueur ballgowns for a pair of sporty shorts and an oversized cameo necklace.
The theme was ‘China: Through the Looking Glass’ and SJP took a rebellious tack in with a flame-like headdress that she wore with a custom H&M ensemble, and the combination practically lit up the red carpet.
Just as accustomed to making an entrance as she is to staging an exit, Parker left another lasting impression when she donned a two-tone duchesse satin stunner for the ‘Charles James: Beyond Fashion’ exhibition. In case you weren’t sure who made it, the designer’s signature is helpfully emblazoned on the train.
The actress called on Philip Treacy for a larger-than-life mohawk that required her to sit on the floor of the car on her ride over to the museum. Not only was it amusing to her, but it also gave her date, Hamish Bowles, a laugh.
Taking a flowery and feminine look to the next level in Valentino, SJP arrived at the 2012 Met in a showstopper.
In 2011, Parker honored her friend—and 2006 Met Gala date—Lee McQueen an archival look from Alexander McQueen’s fall 2005 collection.
In 2010, SJP tapped into her boho side in a champagne Halston Heritage dress, featuring a giant flower tucked into her beachy waves.
In 2006, SJP arrived on Alexander McQueen’s arm wearing a one-shoulder tartan frock that felt perfectly in step with the Anglomania mood of the night.
For Parker’s first Met Gala, she kept it simple in a black velvet empire-waisted dress that she told Vogue she thrifted.
