Met Gala 2024: Zendaya Brings The Drama In Two Completely Unexpected Looks

She’s back!

After five long years, Zendaya made her long-awaited return to the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art tonight—this time as a first-time co-chair for the annual Met Gala. To honour this year’s dress code, “The Garden of Time,” the superstar teamed up with her longtime stylist and close collaborator, Law Roach, to deliver an eternally stylish look that will go down in Met Gala fashion history.

First, the Challengers star opted for an incredible Maison Margiela Artisanal by John Galliano creation, based on a 1999 Dior dress. The one-shouldered gown featured a long trumpet skirt covered in royal-blue and emerald-green diagonal stripes, as well as fruitlike embellishments adorning one side of the waist. She upped the ante with a net mesh and tulle-feathered fascinator.

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Toward the end of the evening, Zendaya surprised fans by reappearing at the bottom of the steps, this time wearing a magnificent black gown, a 1996 piece from John Galliano’s Givenchy era. It included a corseted lace-up bodice with long, puffy off-the-shoulder sleeves and a structured peplum hemline, as well as a ginormous skirt that nearly engulfed the length of the Met’s staircase. As if that weren’t enough, she topped it off with a bouquet-themed fascinator wrapped up in black tulle, as designed by Philip Treacy for Alexander McQueen back in 2006.

The actor last attended the Met Gala in 2019, when she honoured the year’s “Camp: Notes on Fashion” theme in a light-up ball gown designed by Tommy Hilfiger. The look took inspiration from the iconic dress worn by Cinderella in Disney’s animated 1950 film (and Roach even showed up alongside her, dressed as Cinderella’s fairy godmother).

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But Zendaya had been topping Met Gala best-dressed lists for years prior to that moment. Some of her other most memorable looks include a chainmail Versace gown that paid homage to Saint Joan of Arc, a vibrant Dolce & Gabbana ball gown covered in a tropical floral-and-parrot print, and a bodycon Michael Kors dress entirely bedazzled with reflective gold rhinestones.

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“I like to look at fashion as creativity,” Zendaya said in a recent interview on Live With Kelly and Mark. “Even in press tours, it’s a way to continue the creativity from the film. I like to just create characters. … You get to embody this character for the day, and clothes can do that for you.”

This article originally appeared in Harper’s BAZAAR US.