’70s and ’80s Met Galas Were Filled With Disco Glam: 10 Vintage Looks From Cher, Diana Ross + More

The Met Gala is to fashion what the Super Bowl is to sports, and in recent years, the star-studded affair has become bigger than ever before, with high-profile guest lists and daring looks that make the typical red carpet event seem prim and proper in comparison. The 2025 Met Gala, themed around the exhibit Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, takes place tonight, so we’re doing a deep dive on the party’s history.

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While the Met Galas of recent years have been social media phenomena, the fundraising event for the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute has a much longer history than you might have realized. The inaugural Met Gala took place way back in 1948, when the Costume Institute was new, and the event was founded by fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert (who also founded New York Fashion Week and the Council of Fashion Designers of America) as a means of spreading the word about the Institute and securing wealthy donors.

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From Hippie Chick to Disco Diva — These Funky ’70s Fashions Will Take You Back

Relive the days of suede fringe, polyester jumpsuits and prairie dresses

The early Met Galas were relatively low-key affairs, as they were largely attended by philanthropists and fashion designers, rather than celebrities. Surprisingly, from the founding of the Met Gala until 1971, the event didn’t even take place at the Met, and was instead hosted at posh New York venues like the Rainbow Room and the Waldorf Astoria.

The turning point for the Met Gala came in 1972, when former Vogue editor in chief Diana Vreeland became a consultant for the Costume Institute, a position she held until 1989. Vreeland introduced exhibition-based themes to the Gala and had the parties take place at the museum. She also used her connections to bring in celebrity attendees, and when longtime Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour took on a leadership position with the Costume Institute in 1995, a post she holds to this day, she made the Gala into even more of a spectacle, inviting a broader range of celebrities and encouraging increasingly literal interpretations of the ball’s yearly theme.

In anticipation of the 2025 Met Gala, we’re going back to the Vreeland years of the ’70s and ’80s to see some of our favorite divas showing off disco-ready looks at Galas past.