If there's one thing we can count on every first Monday in May, it's that Cardi B is going to show up to the Met Gala like she owns the Met—and maybe the museum, too. Since her Met debut in 2018, the rap queen has turned the red carpet into her personal runway-slash-throne room, consistently delivering jaw-dropping, high-drama fashion moments that serve couture, camp, and Cardi-level confidence.
Cardi B arrived at the 2025 Met Gala with a confident demeanor, demonstrating her command of the red carpet. She wore a custom oxblood Burberry gown with sculpted shoulders, a dramatic train, and beaded details that caught every flash of light. It was sharp, powerful, and totally her.
The theme this year was “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” and Cardi nailed it. But what really turned heads? She made a dramatic change in her appearance. The singer debuted deep red hair and matching contacts, pulling the whole look together with her usual confidence.
Let's rewind and relive Cardi B's best Met Gala looks, which made fashion history and made us all gasp in unison.
Theme: Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination
Designer: Moschino (Jeremy Scott)
Cardi's Met Gala debut was a divine intervention. Fresh off the high of releasing "Invasion of Privacy," Cardi hit the red carpet pregnant and powerful in a custom Moschino gown decked out in pearls, stones, and beaded glory. She looked like a bedazzled Virgin Madonna with an attitude, complete with an ornate bejeweled headpiece and a glorious train that gave papal realness meets hip-hop queen.
It was opulent. It was theatrical. It was fashion blessed by the holy ghost of drama.
Cardi B didn't just understand the assignment in 2019; she rewrote the rubric. Her wine-red Thom Browne masterpiece was more than a dress. It was a feat of engineering: nine feet of quilted silk organza, 30,000 feathers, and a train that required a team to carry it like a royal cape.
With a sculptural bodice that mimicked the curves of the female body and a crystal-covered headpiece, Cardi looked like a seductive high-fashion blood moon. It was avant-garde, absurdly extra, and totally camp. And yes, the internet lost its mind—rightly so.
Theme: In America: An Anthology of Fashion – Gilded Glamour
Designer:Versace
After skipping 2021 (we forgive you, Cardi), she came back ready to drip in gold, and not just gold vibes, but actual chains, links, and Medusa medallions, courtesy of Versace. This look was body-hugging, blindingly shiny, and full of gilded goddess energy.
She paired the look with matching gold cuffs, nails, and a sculpted bustier that screamed 1920s meets 2020s in the best way. Cardi embodied the excess and extravagance of the Gilded Age while still serving Y2K hip-hop edge. Please leave it to her to make fashion history feel like a flex.
Black tie meets ball gown, with a corseted bodice and a dramatic skirt filled with camellia flowers, Chanel's iconic motif. Add a white wig with a black headband, and voilà, she gave us Chanel cosplay with a Bronx bite.
Cardi B arrived in a voluminous black tulle gown designed by Sensen Lii of Windowsen, an emerging label known for its avant-garde creations. The off-the-shoulder silhouette featured mounds of tulle and a sweeping train, requiring a team to manage its dramatic presence on the green carpet.
With this ensemble, Cardi B once again demonstrated her ability to blend high fashion with thematic storytelling, solidifying her status as a Met Gala icon.
The Cardi Effect
What makes Cardi B a Met Gala icon isn't just the labels or the sparkle (though the sparkle helps). It's her unapologetic, over-the-top, own-the-room energy. Her every outfit feels like a cultural moment.
Her appearance on the Met carpet evokes a unique blend of performance art and Bronx fairy tale. And no matter the theme, Cardi always manages to translate it into her visual language: part rap royalty, part high fashion fantasia.
In a sea of stars, playing it safe or swinging and missing on the theme, Cardi B is one of the few who consistently gets it. Whether she's channeling celestial queens, blood-red drama, golden-age excess, or Karl Lagerfeld dreams, when Cardi shows up, she shuts it down.
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