Blake Lively Skips 2024 Met Gala, Fashion Fans Mourn the Absence of Her Epic Red Carpet Style

Lively is largely regarded as one of the most anticipated stars at the Met Gala, but this year she didn't hit the famed museum steps

Blake Lively loves to make her mark on the Met Gala red carpet — but this year fans were left missing her iconic style as the star did not walk the famous steps at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual
fête.

While her appearance at event is always highly anticipated, we'll just have to use our imaginations about how Lively, 36, would have embraced the "Garden of Time" dress code.

Lively last attended the Met Gala in 2022, serving as co-chair, and leaving fans and fashion critics alike praising her look.

Then, Lively captivated photographers in a head-turning Atelier Versace gown, which featured a reversible train.

After first arriving with husband Ryan Reynolds, who wore his white-tie best in a velvet tuxedo and white bow-tie, the actress put on a performance halfway up the Met steps when she flipped the train, revealing an aqua side that cascaded down behind her.

Related: 'Sleeping Beauties': The 2024 Met Gala Theme Explained — and How Stars Will Interpret the Dress Code

Channeling 2022's "Gilded Glamour" dress code — which asking attendees to "embody the grandeur Gilded Age New York" between 1870 and 1890 — Lively said on the red carpet at the time that she "looked to New York City architecture and the classic buildings" when collaborating with the Versace team on her dress, adding that the color choices were to represent the patina aging that copper undergoes over time.

Related: Catch All the Minute-by-Minute Fashion Updates from the 2024 Met Gala Red Carpet Right Here!

"The draping [represents] the Statue of Liberty, plus the crown which has seven tiers, the Statue Liberty has seven rays representing the sun's rays and then also the seven seas and continents which represents welcomeness, inclusivity, and freedom," Lively added. "I sound like a Wikipedia page. — she has 25 windows so Lorraine [Schwartz] put 25 stones at the bottom, so they're all New York City references."

Lively embodied the "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination" theme in 2018 in another custom-made halo by Schwartz and a custom Versace gown featuring a dramatic train designed specifically for cascading down the Met steps. (Your girl knows how to make the most out of a photo op!)

Related: Blake Lively's Met Gala Looks Through the Years

In 2017, Lively also attended with Reynolds, having a glam Mom and Dad night out. They even leaned in to a sweet matchy-matchy outfit moment for the event. The pair are parents to daughters James, 9, Inez, 7, and Betty, 4. In February 2023, Lively revealed that she and Reynolds had quietly welcomed their fourth baby.

Lively turned again to the design team at Atelier Versace for that event, wearing a gold gown with blue feather detailing on the train, which Reynolds matched his bow-tie to. The dress was made of delicate gold chains with multicolor feather accents cascading down the train in "ocean blue" hues. She also went all-out loud luxury with her bling, teaming the design with more than $3.5 million in Lorraine Schwartz jewels, including 82-carat Burma sapphire earrings.

Lively's Met Gala looks always tell a style story, and she's been on best dressed lists since her big debut back in 2008, attending as a guest of Ralph Lauren in a strapless black gown embellished with feathers on the trumpet skirt.

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The actress's Gossip Girl character Serena van der Woodsen famously wore a pale yellow, tiered floral Ralph Lauren gown with cropped black gloves for the season 1 finale (to Lily and Bart’s wedding, for the GG obsessives out there). In a "Life in Looks" video with Vogue, Lively called the dress one of the "most critical fashion moments of Gossip Girl."

Lively added that the particular Ralph Lauren fashion moment on Gossip Girl is likely what scored her invite to the 2008 gala. (The theme was "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy.")

She even wore the cropped black gloves on the carpet as a nod to the moment.

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