HELLO and Welcome to the First Tuesday in May, an annual tradition of my own making wherein I hunt and scavenge every corner of the internet to collect all of the best gay fashion from the Met Gala (which is, as anyone who’s seen as many Anne Hathaway movies as I have can tell you, always the First Monday in May).

First, a brief rundown: the Met Gala is an annual fundraiser for the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, hosted by Anna Wintour and Vogue magazine. Each year’s gala has a specific theme to celebrate — and this year it’s “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.” On display right now at the Met is an exhibit featuring roughly 15 pieces that are too fragile to even be worn, including an Elizabethan bodice and a 1887 silk ball gown! It’s all very Bridgerton. Imagine “The Met Gala: as sponsored by Shonda Rhimes and Netflix.”

Immediately when I heard that this year’s theme was “Sleeping Beauties,” I assumed we’d be serving fairy tale haute couture. It turns out that the Costume Institute had something much darker in mind. This year’s dress code, dubbed “The Garden of Time,” is inspired by a short story of the same name, written by J.G. Ballard in 1962. The story involves a count and countess living in a beautiful rural villa, but “with each passing hour, an angry mob slowly begins to encroach their home, with the only way to fend them off involving the count plucking the petals of a time-reversing flower.” The count must cut a flower from his garden to keep the angry mob from taking over his estate. Each cut moves the mob further away, but slowly he ends up cutting all his flowers to make this happen, and therefore all the flowers die.

The irony speaks for itself, because last night as celebrities and the wealthiest among us wined and dined, protests against the war in Gaza and in support of a free Palestine swelled outside of the museum. Three different groups of protestors circled the Met, weaving through Central Park and looking to maneuver around police as the protestors made their way to the famed carpet. Ultimately, they got within a block of the museum before the police started arresting them (because of course, the pageantry of the Met carpet must be protected 🙄) and instead the protests began marching south down Park avenue. While this was happening, in the Palestinian city of Rafah, Israel increased their attacks, releasing bombs overnight. On the carpet itself, there was no mention of Palestine and no celebrity (to my knowledge) called for as much as a Ceasefire in their interviews — or even wore a pin in support.

I cannot imagine a clearer example of cutting off your flowers to keep the “angry mob” of reality away. A crystal clear and immaculately manicured gilded cage.

Look! I have a lot of complicated feelings about the Met! We all do, and if you’re going to read a complimentary piece to this otherwise silly fashion round up I deeply recommend these reflections from yesterday written by our Senior Editor Drew Burnett Gregory. As Drew notes, “The best thing someone can do with exorbitant wealth is give it away. The second best thing they can do is make art, make their home into art, or make themself into art. The Met Gala is a celebration of this second best thing — if only second best didn’t feel so sinister.”

The truth is that I love art, in a serious way. And I believe that craftwork and design of fashion is art. There are few celebrations of that craft like the Met Gala, and so here I am: with a pounding migraine, a nasty head cold, high on cold meds, in a shirt that is now two days old, and about to make my little jokey jokes on this website. I hope it gives you a little reprieve, joy, or comfort in your day. I hope we all celebrate the Condé Nast Union getting a tentative agreement (including a new floor minimum for salaries for the working class creatives who make magazines like Vogue come alive).

It’s the Met! And you know what that means! It’s time to look upon hot queers, poke a some fun at celebrity culture, and give flowers the designers, culture workers, and glam teams that make this topsy-turvy fashion world go ’round.

Who gays become on met gala night pic.twitter.com/KGQmigQFnv

— 💫 (@heyjaeee) May 6, 2024

Let’s go go gadget!

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All of the Best LGBT Fashion at the 2024 Met Gala

Ayo Edebiri in Loewe

It’s Ayo’s first Met carpet! Give it up for the Princess of Ireland! Green has always been her color 😉

Colman Domingo in Willy Chavarria

What I love about Colman Domingo is that it’s become a meme at this point that there isn’t a red carpet that he won’t be the Best Dressed of. And I love it, because it is correct.

And while we’re here, listen to him talk about the importance of Black culture and its influence on fashion:

Colman Domingo’s #metgala 2024 look paid tribute to Chadwick Boseman and André Leon Tally.

“Everything I do, I feel like it’s gotta be for the culture."

Here's how he paid tribute to the late Black style icons: https://t.co/qwDdrDwBhV pic.twitter.com/J7kmykbtRo

— GQ Magazine (@GQMagazine) May 7, 2024

Rita Ora in Tom Ford

Every year, someone at the Met is going to do a “naked dress” and sure, that’s predictable, probably even veering towards boring. And sure, I wish if she’s going to go for the naked look of the night, that Rita Ora had found a better fitting body suit (it looks great in these photos, but in other angles you can see where it stretches away from her and wrinkles, losing the effect its supposed to have). BUT! The story behind these beads?? Call me galaxy brained, but I, for one, am into it!

Daniel Levy

Traditionally when I cover the Met for Autostraddle, I don’t include cis gay men’s fashion because it’s covered extensively everywhere else on the web! And also — there’s only so many interesting takes about a plain black suit that girl can have.

But increasingly, the cis men are eating tf dowwwwnnnn at these here Mets! I’ve had to amend my own rubric. The fadaway on Dan Levy’s suit from black into flowers?? Like the impending doom of death??? (whoops is that just me who sees it?)

C’mon!!!

J. Harrison Ghee

J. Harrison Ghee made history as one of the two nonbinary performers who won best acting awards at last year’s Tony Awards, but they’re also winning a whole other award last night — Princess Tinkerbell Fairy Godmother of my dreams!

Cole Escola in Thom Browne

And speaking of theatre gays, I love what cabaret artist Cole Escola did here. They went for a British Mary Poppins-esque vibe (if I’m wrong, don’t tell me! That’s what I think of when I think of wicker and a Dachshund puppy!), and it’s working.

Lena Waithe in Etro

While it’s true Lena’s giving a bit of an Ed Hardy 00s tuxedo (complimentary!) — what I really want to point out here is the craftsmanship on the embroidery in that leather. Can you imagine how much time that took?

Demi Lovato in Prabal Gurung

Demi said, tonight we are serving face! We are serving body!

Dove Cameron

I just love Dove Cameron. She’s my third favorite (after Raven, Miley) grown-up gay Disney kid! And don’t you just love that there’s enough of them now that we can even rank them?

Harris Reed

This is embarrassing to admit as the person you’ve entrusted to do your fashion round up, but I had… never heard of Harris Reed until last night?!? Which is unfortunate, because he walked away with my vote for Best Dressed on the whole carpet, Zendaya be damned!!

AND he got to walk it with his muse, 90s gay icon Demi Moore?!? WHAT!?

Jordan Roth in Valentino

I have no idea who Jordan Roth is. I tried to google Jordan Roth, and still, I feel unclear. But look! at! that! outfit! That’s how you do a fucking garden, hunny.

Cynthia Erivo in Thom Browne

Cynthia looked great, Cynthia’s nails looked great, Cynthia used this moment to once again remind everyone that she will soon be starring as Elphaba in Wicked. None of that is new. But I implore you to scroll through and look at the bedazzled dragonfly that is somehow attached to the back of her head, because whew. 

Lil Nas X in Luar

Speaking of Black queer people and our love of nails!! Wait until you see the claws that Lil Nas X was working with!

Also not to be messy on main, but is that his boyfriend? 👀

I missed the memo, let a girl know!

Lily Gladstone in Gabriela Hearst

Ok so! At first glance, I wasn’t won over by Lily Gladstone’s outfit last night. But then I started reading more about Gabriela Hearst’s details? Including that each teeny tiny individual star was hand-crafted from recycled silver and glass beads, before then being hand-embroidered in place! Can you imagine!! It’s meant to replicate a Great Plains night sky, and respect for the expansive outdoors that means so much in Indigenous traditions. I get it. And I’m humbled by what I didn’t know.

You can also hear Lily speak directly on these themes in the interview below:

📹 Watch Lily Gladstone explain her #MetGala look ✨ pic.twitter.com/g130VGnqR0

— Lily Gladstone Updates (@LilyGUpdates) May 7, 2024

Quannah Chasinghorse in H&M

Quannah Chiasinghorse (featured here in a FRIENDSHIP photo with Lily Gladstone, just wanted to clarify, since we’re all gay here!) adorned an otherwise pretty traditional H&M ball gown with Indigenous jewelry and accents, and… I just think they are so gorgeous ok? Like they could have came in nothing but an Off the Rack little black dress and I still would have moved them to the top of the list.

Sarah Paulson in Prada

I enjoy that whenever cameras capture Sarah Paulson, it always looks as if she’s one second away from making a screaming face in one of those American Horror Stories.

Living life on the edge, you know?

Willow Smith in Dior

You get two behind-the-scenes videos and photo carousels on Willow’s hair, because I am obsesssssssssed

Cardi B in Giambattista Valli

Over the past seven (!!) years, Cardi has become something of a queen of the Met carpet. And I love that she knows it. Even in a simple black tulle, this was easily one of the best gowns of the night. The circumference on that skirt alone?!

Janelle Monáe in Vera Wang

Last night, a friend said to me: “I like Janelle’s look, I just can’t tell if they are on theme…”

I responded, “The theme is that they are hot. What’s not to get?”

And I was right.

Tessa Thompson

(I swear to you — I didn’t put Tessa Thompson underneath Janelle to stir the pot, it just happened like that!)

Emily Ratajkowski in Versace

I always forget that Emily Ratajkowski is bisexual, and maybe she isn’t? But she sure does own a velvet green couch. And so, based on the bylaws of Overly-Online Queer Culture,^TM  here we are.

Rosalía in Dior

Just your bimonthly reminder that Rosalía dated Hunter Schafer for months and none of us knew about it.

Cara Delevingne in Stella McCartney

Surprisingly this is subdued for Cara? I don’t hate it. But it’s also no Peg the Patriarchy shirt. (And yes, sadly, that shirt is a thing that once happened. On this very carpet, no less.)

Hari Nef in H&M

BARBIE!!!

Keke Palmer

At first I thought Keke Palmer was Rapunzel, but now I’m thinking — plot twist — she might be Rapunzel’s tower? And that’s so much better.

Queen Latifah & Eboni Nichols, Both in Thom Browne

QUEEN LATIFAH WALKED THE CARPET WITH HER PARTNER AND ALSO DID AN INTERVIEW ABOUT THEIR KID AND WHEN I TELL YOU THAT I UNABASHEDLY TEARED UP OVER THESE DEVELOPMENTS!!!!!!! aflaskdfaldfkasdfjlafkaldfakdfalfkaflakfafadsfsldfksaflsakdf

Dana fucking Owens. The woman that you are. The journey you have been on. I love you, and I hope you had the best possible night.

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And in conclusion, Free Palestine. Just so you don’t forget.