Cara Delevingne and risque fashion go hand in hand and this has been the case with most of her appearances at the Met Gala.
Since her runway debut with Burberry during London Fashion Week Fall 2011, Cara Delevingne has become one of the most sought-after models, cultivating close ties with designers like Christopher Bailey, Hedi Slimane at Saint Laurent, Stella McCartney, and Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel. And while she was already a red carpet fixture thanks to early appearances at the Met Gala and at Cannes, she’s become even more so thanks to her burgeoning acting career, including her most recent role in this summer’s Valerian and the City of A Thousand Planets. Over her many, many appearances, Delevingne has also used fashion to refine her own sense of self. Early photos show a young model in your standard starlet-appropriate dresses, but now in her late 20s the openly queer model is unafraid to explore all sides of herself.
Whether embracing the punk theme in 2013, or the theme of camp in 2019, Delevingne has consistently proven she’s dedicated to nailing the dress code—and truly going for it—to deliver a memorable fashion look. In fact, over the years, she’s proven to be one of Met’s biggest risk-takers. Who could forget the star’s 2022 look by Dior that read: “Peg the Patriarchy”?
While Delevingne played it classic and glamorous for her first few appearances at the Met Gala, it was in 2013 that the model truly hit her style stride on the carpet and began playing up the various dress codes. Honoring that year’s exhibition, “Punk: Chaos to Couture,” she was dressed by Burberry in a plunging black gown embellished with silver spikes: an edgy, rock and roll take on the LBD. For 2017’s Rei Kawakubo and Comme des Garçons theme, Delevingne channeled the experimental vibe of the evening in a silver metallic Chanel suit. The finishing touch? Her head, freshly shaved for a movie role, was also covered in silver paint.
As for more recent Met Gala hits, Delevingne commanded attention in 2019 while celebrating the theme of camp, wearing a rainbow Dior jumpsuit complete with a dramatic Machine Dazzle headpiece (it was adorned with bananas, fried eggs, teeth, and eyeballs—total camp!). In 2022, her “Peg the Patriarchy” Dior look also became one of the night’s most-discussed choices, and one of her most famous Met looks. “It’s about women empowerment, gender equality—it’s a bit ‘stick it to the man,’. Last year, meanwhile, she also chose a red Dior suit—but it was when she removed the blazer on the carpet, and revealed her bare form covered in gold body paint and pasties, that she truly stole the show. You can simply always count on Delevingne to turn heads—and only time will tell what she’ll wear to this year’s grand affair.
Below, explore all of Delevingne’s Met Gala looks over the years.
