The best vintage and vintage-inspired fashion from the 2024 Met Gala

With a theme like that, it was always going to be a big night for vintage fashion. In fact, the 2024 Met Gala was a lesson in how to mine or draw inspiration from the archives of some of the best fashion houses in our history.

Dress on the theme of “The Garden of Time”, inspired by JG Ballard’s short story of the same name, and the accompanying exhibition “Sleeping Beauty: Awakening Fashion” (which celebrates pieces archive fashion too delicate to ever wear again), a number of celebrities wore designs from memorable collections of the past, reproduced them directly or took inspiration from them.

Zendaya wore a design by John Galliano for Maison Margiela, inspired by one of his dresses from his days at Christian Dior, while Jonathon Anderson at Loewe took inspiration from a dress from 1951. Charles James and Kendall Jenner dove into the Givenchy archives, wearing an Alexander McQueen dress that had never been worn by anyone else.

Below, we celebrate some of the best vintage and vintage-inspired moments from the 2024 Met Gala.

Zendaya in vintage-inspired Dior by Margiela

For her big Met Gala return, Zendaya wore a creation by John Galliano for Maison Margiela, which was a floral masterpiece inspired by her time at Dior, specifically a dress from the Spring/Summer 1999 couture collection.

Christian Dior haute couture show spring summer 1999 — Pierre VAUTHEY – Getty Images

Christian Dior haute couture spring-summer 1999 show — Pierre VAUTHEY – Getty Images

Zendaya in vintage Givenchy and McQueen

The actress then donned a black dress from the Galliano era at Givenchy. She paired the Spring/Summer 1996 couture dress with a Philip Treacy floral headpiece from Alexander McQueen’s Spring/Summer 2006 collection.

Alexander McQueen — Michel Dufour – Getty Images

Kendall Jenner in vintage Givenchy

Kendall Jenner also searched the Givenchy archives. The model chose this Alexander McQueen Givenchy dress from 1999, a dress that has never been seen on the runway, meaning Jenner was the first person to wear this dress.

Brie Larson in vintage-inspired Prada

Brie Larson wore a custom Prada dress, inspired by a vintage design from the house. A 2007 dress influenced the model’s sunset colors, while the sheer hoop skirt and sequin details were added to embrace the theme of the passage of time.

prada — Chris Moore/Parades – Getty Images

Nicole Kidman in vintage-inspired Balenciaga

Nicole Kidman wore a replica of a 1951 Balenciaga dress, which featured a beautiful black ruffled skirt with a white silk overlay and elbow-length gloves.

Lana Del Rey in vintage-inspired Alexander McQueen

Lana Del Rey wore a Sean McGirr design for Alexander McQueen, inspired by the house’s archives, in particular a dress from the fall/winter 2006 collection.