Met Gala 2024: The most ballsy, bold and bonkers looks from this year's red carpet

“It's turned into a costume party,” designer and former Met Gala co-chair Tom Ford once told fashion journalist Amy Odell of the famous first Monday in May. And from Katy Perry’s chandelier, to Lil Nas X’s bedazzled body paint, to Jared Leto’s Choupette cat suit, it’s getting harder and harder to disagree with him.

Because with every expertly crafted, on-theme outfit there are five to ten simply bonkers looks before it. While good looks used to be peppered in between a mass of boring tuxes and black gowns, they’re now uncomfortably wedged between two insane looks that require actual buses to transport their wearer (who, obviously, cannot sit down. Or eat. Or breathe. Or think).

From Kim Kardashian’s impossibly cinched waist and cardigan combo to Cole Escola’s Thom Browne doggy bag and Rita Ora’s beaded door-curtain dress, 2024 was no different. There were headpieces, hourglasses, hundreds of Swarovski crystals and more florals than a Monet painting. Stars were carried up stairs and bundled into vans to protect their looks, all in the hope of ending up as one of the Met Gala best dressed.

And hey - there’s nothing wrong with committing to the bit, but these 2024 Met Gala looks really took it to the max. Here they are, presented without judgement. We’ll leave that up to Tom Ford.