You know you love her.
As Upper East Side high schooler Serena van der Woodsen on “Gossip Girl,” Blake Lively spent plenty of time on the Metropolitan Museum of Art steps — and considering the actress has been a Met Gala regular since 2008, it would appear life imitates art.
One of the star-studded, Vogue-hosted soirée’s most anticipated arrivals year after year, Lively always understands the assignment when it comes to her outfits, which might explain why Anna Wintour tapped her and husband Ryan Reynolds as gala co-chairs in 2022.
The “Simple Favor” star knows how to make an entrance on fashion’s biggest night, often opting for looks with cascading trains and intricate embellishments guaranteed to pop in red carpet photos. (She’s even matched said carpet on several occasions.)
Tragically, Lively confirmed she’s missing the 2023 soiree, so look back at every outfit Lively’s worn to previous Met Galas.
Lively made her Met Gala debut in a black strapless Ralph Lauren mermaid gown with a feathered skirt, accessorizing with matching gloves and diamond bracelets.
While this look didn’t quite suit the night’s “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy” theme, she sure looked Marvel-ous.
She looked ready for the runway in in a slit-up-to-there Versace gown that showed plenty of skin at the “Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion” gala.
The asymmetrical style also featured a sultry plunging neckline and a single sheer sleeve.
The all-American beauty picked a bright blue Marchesa dress for 2010’s “American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity” ball, accessorizing with glittery Christian Louboutin pumps and Lorraine Schwartz jewels.
In a sea of floor-length looks, Lively’s leggy mini turned plenty of heads.
After being named the face of Chanel in early 2011, it’s no surprise Lively wore a couture look from the storied house for the Met Gala.
Joined by Karl Lagerfeld at the glitzy event, the actress glowed in a Grecian-inspired gown with dramatic draping and a sheer, sparkling bodice.
Lively looked gorgeous in Gucci Première at the “Punk: Chaos to Couture” gala.
Though not particularly edgy, her gown still nodded to the theme with its jet-black tiered skirt and heavy-metal detailing.
The “Shallows” star stuck with Gucci Première the following year, embodying Old Hollywood glamour in a beaded blush-hued gown with a floor-sweeping cape.
“This was a little bit of a departure from Charles James, because he has a lot of petticoats, a lot of graphic, geometric structures,” Lively told People at the time of her look for the event, which honored the iconic couturier.
“This is more of the Charles James times, ’40s and ’50s. I was a little scared to go too Charles James, because he has such iconic shapes and designs that to me if too many people are drawing from the same inspiration everyone’s going to be in the same dress.”
Then pregnant with her and Reynolds’ second child, Lively was blooming beautiful in a floral-detailed pink Burberry gown at the “Manus x Machina: Fashion in the Age of Technology” gala.
“She gets involved in the creation and design process, and that’s very inspiring,” Burberry’s then-chief creative officer Christopher Bailey told Vogue at the time.
“We loved the idea of blending intricate handcrafted techniques with highly technical fabrics. The result is truly one of a kind — a gem, just like Blake!”
Lively began working with Versace on her Met Gala looks in 2017, when the theme was “Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between.”
The actress looked good as gold in a plunging gown made up of thousands of draped metallic chains and finished with a blue feathered train.
Holy haute couture! With its opulent train and ornate embellishments, Lively’s look for the “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” Met Gala might be her most iconic to date.
Topped off with a halo-style gold headpiece by Lorraine Schwartz, her Atelier Versace gown was so grand, she had to take a party bus to the museum, according to Vogue; the bodice alone took 600 hours to embroider.
In her Vogue “Life in Looks” video in 2022, Lively called it “without a doubt my favorite look of all time,” adding that she shows photos of the dress to her children when they’re giving her “attitude.”
“I’m like, ‘This is your mom.’ I try to tell them that I’m real-life royalty and that they’re lucky that I’m raising them,” she said. “They don’t buy it. They don’t believe it.”
Lively pulled out all the sartorial stops for her stint as Met Gala co-chair alongside Ryan Reynolds, opting for another Atelier Versace creation that was more like a performance art piece.
In honor of the evening’s “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” theme, her look drew inspiration from iconic New York City buildings including the Empire State Building and Grand Central Station.
And in a nod to the Statue of Liberty, the gown’s copper-colored skirt unfurled on the Met steps to reveal a green train, mirroring the landmark’s oxidation over time. Even her Lorraine Schwartz crown was an ode to Lady Liberty.