30 of the Most Memorable Fashion Moments of All Time

The femme fatale of the silent film era wore such lavish (and risqué) ensembles in the 1917 drama that censors required major cuts to eliminate shots of her “snake breast plates” and spangle costume.” Bara later became known as one of Hollywood’s first sex symbols.

The actress showed up to a dinner held in Sophia Loren’s honor wearing a décolletage-bearing dress as a publicity stunt. Given the ensuing photographs, let’s just say it worked.

“I’m staring at her nipples because I am afraid they are about to come onto my plate,” Loren later told Entertainment Weekly in 2014. “I’m so frightened that everything in her dress is going to blow — BOOM! — and spill all over the table.”

The skin-tight sequined gown the star wore to serenade John F. Kennedy at a 1962 gala recently sold for $4.8 million dollars. “I can now retire from politics after having had ‘Happy Birthday’ sung to me in such a sweet, wholesome way,” the president famously remarked afterwards.

Balmain still makes similar dresses today, but this 1964 sheer stunner literally incited an accident. Men reportedly crashed through a police wall in order to catch a glimpse of Baker at the London premiere of The Carpetbaggers.

Leave it up to Bob Mackie to make sequins and mesh instantly iconic. The costume designer dressed the Moonstruck actress for her Oscar-winning night in 1988, not to mention the towering feather headdress he made for her two years before.

The musician’s Blonde Ambition World Tour in 1990 promoted more than just “Like a Virgin.” The “elaborately choreographed, sexually provocative extravaganza” per Rolling Stone also marked the debut of her iconic cone bra, a bullet-bra-inspired corset designed by Jean Paul Gaultier.

Hugh Grant who? The only thing anyone could talk about after the 1994 premiere of Four Weddings and a Funeral was the star’s then-girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley. Even though the Versace creation still generates buzz decades later, the model herself didn’t think too much of it. “I’m delighted a dress I wore might be something someone would think about, but it wasn’t really that big a deal to me at the time,” she recently told Harper’s Bazaar UK.

The costume designer originally requested the pieces of plastic for wardrobing Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, but American Express only complied with the ask once Gardiner agreed to wear them herself. Exactly 254 cards went into the 1995 Oscars look. (Let’s hope they cleaned them first!)

We don’t even think a Hadid sister would try this daring look. Rose McGowan managed to make Marilyn Manson look tame by wearing strings of beads to the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards.

The following year marked a similarly legendary VMAs moment, when the rapper let one boob fly free (minus a sequined seashell nipple cover, of course).

Although Spice Girl Geri Halliwell had worn the same Versace dress a month earlier, something about the combination of J.Lo, the Grammys, and some carefully placed fashion tape incited an internet frenzy — and inspired the launch of Google Images. “At the time, it was the most popular search query we had ever seen,” Google exec Eric Schmidt revealed in a blog post. “But we had no surefire way of getting users exactly what they wanted: J­Lo wearing that dress. Google Image Search was born.”

Remember those grain of rice necklaces people were obsessed with in the late ’90s? Angelina Jolie and Billie Bob Thornton took it to the next level by wearing jewelry marked with each others’ blood on the red carpet.

“The necklaces were a very simple thing,” Thornton later explained. “‘Hey, let’s poke our finger with a pin and smear a little on there, and when we’re away from each other, we’ll wear the necklace.'”

The early ’00s were ripe for memorable fashion moments, but none embodies the craziness better than Björk wearing a bird — and laying a metaphorical egg — at the 2001 Oscars. While critics ripped Marjan Pejoski’s design at the time, the dress is now so iconic that Valentino recently reimagined the design in a couture fashion show.

Speaking of animal inspiration, Brit-Brit famously wore a boa during her 2001 MTV VMAs performance, and not the feather kind. The 7-foot albino Burmese python was very much alive and wiggling. “There are moments where I look back and think: ‘What the hell was I thinking?'” the singer later said of the “scary” moment.

Here’s one more Britney fashion statement for the history books. The year was 2001 and the world’s two biggest pop icons decided to solidify their power couple status by … wearing head-to-toe denim?! Oh what a time, what a time.

Just when this very-naked image finally faded from your mind, it’s back. (We’re sorry.) In an effort to promote his upcoming movie Borat, the comedian arrived at Cannes Film Festival wearing this contraption, officially entering the word “mankini” into the public lexicon.

Stitched into her third look of the night backstage, Lady Gaga accepted her 2010 MTV Video of the Year award wearing none other than raw flank steak and matching meat accessories. “If we don’t stand up for what we believe in and if we don’t fight for our rights pretty soon, we’re going to have as much rights as the meat on our own bones,” she later explained of the unconventional material. “And, I am not a piece of meat.”

Kim K. made her Met Gala debut with a risky Givenchy gown that instantly inspired countless memes, but the reality star wouldn’t have had it (or the matching gloves) any other way. “I thought it was so cool,” she said of friend Riccardo Tisci’s design. “It got a lot of criticism and I didn’t care because I really loved it.”

There wasn’t a time in 2013 that former Disney star Miley Cyrus didn’t have her tongue out, but no moment stands out more than her twerking routine with Robin Thicke at the VMAs. The bear-theme costume peeled away to reveal nude latex bikini, which she then paired with that infamous foam finger.

At the 2014 CFDA Awards, Rihanna arrived wearing 230,000 Swarovski crystals, a thong, and not much else. Hey, when you’re accepting the prestigious Fashion Icon Award, you have to go big or go home.

At this point in time, naked dresses have such a rich history you can literally pay tribute to other naked dresses. Case in point: Model Amber Rose’s shimmery ensemble at the 2014 VMAs.

She said it herself: “Screw the fashion police!” So while this look at the 2015 Fashion Film Awards shouldn’t be that shocking, we’d still forgive you for feeling a little confused about Bai Ling’s message here.

Two years after the twerking routine heard round the world, the VMAs tapped Miley for hosting duties, and her 11 (yep, 11) wardrobe changes did not disappoint. First there was this strappy silver number from Versace.

Let’s not forget about another standout from the night: A clear plastic bodysuit topped with puffy polka dots.

Bold choices come a dime a dozen on the Met Gala carpet, but Madonna showed attendees half her age how it’s really done by forgoing pants for the 2016 theme Manus x Machina. “My dress at the Met Ball was a political statement as well as a fashion statement,” Madge later wrote on Instagram. “The fact that people actually believe a woman is not allowed to express her sexuality and be adventurous past a certain age is proof that we still live in an age-ist and sexist society.” Right on, Madonna ?

You gotta hand it to Chrissy Teigen at the 2016 American Music Awards. So what if she had a few wardrobe malfunctions? That slit goes up to her bra. She even had the grace to credit the gown designer *and* her laser hair removal place on Instagram.

We’re all for dudes making bolder fashion choices, and Jared Leto is right there leading the charge. This sequined technicolor dreamcoat at the 2017 VMAs is just one entry into a pantheon of his OTT maximalist looks.

Also in the running: CeeLo Green at the 2017 Grammys. The “Crazy” singer was dressed as his alter ego Gnarly Davidson, but all anyone else could see was either C-3pO, a Power Ranger, or a Ferrero Rocher truffle.

It flew over the heads of most red carpet watchers, but industry insiders could not get over Rihanna’s architectural tribute to Rei Kawakubo. The 2017 Met Gala’s theme centered on the avant garde Japanese fashion designer, and RiRi lived up to the moment.

No, this wasn’t a Victoria’s Secret fashion show. The singer’s angelic take on this year’s Met Gala theme of “Heavenly Bodies” resulted in wings so wide she had to turn sideways to enter the museum!