The 2024 Met Gala’s “Garden of Time” Theme Winners: Who Did It Best?

While the Met Gala 2024’s “Garden of Time” sounded like a fantastical place, it felt very real on Monday, with supermodels, actors, athletes, billionaires, influencers, and other attendees showcasing a wide variety of takes on the evening’s dress code while making their way up the red carpet draped on the famous steps of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Borrowed from English writer J.G. Ballard’s 1962 short story of the same name, the Met Gala 2024’s “Garden of Time” theme worked in conjunction with the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.” Affectionately dubbed “fashion’s biggest night,” the Met Gala is also a benefit for the Costume Institute, serving as the primary source of funding for the department. According to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the show features approximately 250 pieces from the Costume Institute’s collection that span four centuries and are “visually united by iconography related to nature, which will serve as a metaphor for the fragility and ephemerality of fashion.”

With references to the natural world and the essence of time, it’s clear that the Met Gala 2024 theme fueled the imaginations of designers, guests, makeup artists, and hairstylists, encouraging head-to-toe creativity on the bustling red carpet.

The Met Gala’s theme always does more than offer a dress code for the event; it sets the tone for fashion history to be made and, in turn, inspires conversation long after the red carpet has been rolled up—be it a debate on the definition of camp or an exploration of punk’s contributions to the world of high fashion.

Interpretations of the “Garden of Time” theme varied, but a number of attendees really nailed the theme. Nicki Minaj offered a burst of color in a golden-hued textured fit and flare style dress with 3D butterflies, custom-made Marni by the brand’s creative director Francesco Risso. Ayo Edebiri wore a Loewe creation with a colorful gradient of hand-painted flowers. Elle Fanning channeled Sleeping Beauty in a translucent Balmain look that mimicked glass and featured “birds” draping the dress over her shoulders, just like the character in the animated film.

Below, our picks for whose originality and vision made them a master of the “Garden of Time” theme. For more from the Met Gala 2024 red carpet, revisit all the fashion, outfits, and looks here, and see who made Vanity Fair’s best-dressed list here.