![<p>For most designers, dressing a guest for the Met Gala is the ultimate ambition. There’s no comparable spectacle, after all, no other event where hordes of stars dress to the tune of a theme and parade, in their finest couture, up and down the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. And though guests certainly don’t invite judgement, it’s offered in spades (that’s the thing with a theme, you see: it turns the carpet into a competition, and suddenly everyone has a measuring rod). </p><p>Thus, at an event this high-profile, having a piece worn by a celebrity attendee can make a designer’s career. Just recall Met Gala history’s tentpole ensembles, the looks that catapulted the muses to the tops of best-dressed lists, and their artists to fame: when Rihanna made Chinese designer Guo Pei a household name after appearing in a dramatic, golden cape in 2015, or when supermodel Iman walked the champagne steps of the museum in a gilded leaf-and-feather gown by then-industry ingénue Harris Reed, now creative director of Nina Ricci. </p><p>“The Met Gala is where designers are allowed to be the most themselves,” Oscar de la Renta and Monse’s Fernando García once told <a href="https://fashionista.com/2020/05/fashion-designers-remember-first-met-gala" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i>Fashionista</i></a>, “where designers are allowed to showcase who they are as designers... You’re allowed to be the most obnoxious [designer] you can be because it’s a night of celebrating the craft that you do.”</p><p>The mythology of the Met Gala also makes spotting an Australian designer at the event all the more exciting. Little delights us more than seeing local talent championed on the international stage, and in recent years, these cameos have increased in frequency, with models, singers and actors seeking out homegrown designers for fashion’s night of nights. </p><p>Here, we look back on every time an Australian designer has been worn at the Met Gala.</p><p><a href="https://www.newsletters.news.com.au/vogue"><i>Sign up to the Vogue newsletter</i></a></p>](https://content.api.news/v3/images/bin/3da514aa2ff6e12389291381336fd07b)
For most designers, dressing a guest for the Met Gala is the ultimate ambition. There’s no comparable spectacle, after all, no other event where hordes of stars dress to the tune of a theme and parade, in their finest couture, up and down the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. And though guests certainly don’t invite judgement, it’s offered in spades (that’s the thing with a theme, you see: it turns the carpet into a competition, and suddenly everyone has a measuring rod).
Thus, at an event this high-profile, having a piece worn by a celebrity attendee can make a designer’s career. Just recall Met Gala history’s tentpole ensembles, the looks that catapulted the muses to the tops of best-dressed lists, and their artists to fame: when Rihanna made Chinese designer Guo Pei a household name after appearing in a dramatic, golden cape in 2015, or when supermodel Iman walked the champagne steps of the museum in a gilded leaf-and-feather gown by then-industry ingénue Harris Reed, now creative director of Nina Ricci.
“The Met Gala is where designers are allowed to be the most themselves,” Oscar de la Renta and Monse’s Fernando García once told Fashionista, “where designers are allowed to showcase who they are as designers... You’re allowed to be the most obnoxious [designer] you can be because it’s a night of celebrating the craft that you do.”
The mythology of the Met Gala also makes spotting an Australian designer at the event all the more exciting. Little delights us more than seeing local talent championed on the international stage, and in recent years, these cameos have increased in frequency, with models, singers and actors seeking out homegrown designers for fashion’s night of nights.
Here, we look back on every time an Australian designer has been worn at the Met Gala.
