Every year, the Met Gala supplies Hollywood with a theme, a dress code, and the biggest red carpet of the year to show off their looks. For 2024’s event, the theme was “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” the corresponding dress code was “The Garden of Time,” and the red carpet was, instead, a green carpet. While this year’s theme may have been brand new, one thing wasn’t: some stars’ ensembles were a dream come true, while others gave us that same feeling that our alarm clocks did this Monday morning.

Three unwritten Met Gala rules are consistent every year. First, honor the theme with your look. Second, don’t be safe with your ensemble. And, last but certainly not least, do not trip on the steps of the Met — we’re looking at you, Jason Derulo (just kidding). Every year, however, some stars do not carefully consider the theme, and others don’t take the risks with their ensembles that the biggest night in fashion deserves. This year’s theme was a bit more open to interpretation and easy to experiment with than themes from years past. And, as a result, the vast majority of this year’s looks were incredible, creative, and the ode to fashion that they should be. Still, that did not stop some stars from making major fashion missteps. While no one may have fallen down the Met steps, plenty of stars’ looks still fell flat.

Zoë Saldana clearly had her schedule mixed up and thought she was going out for dinner and drinks on this Monday night. In reality, though, it was the Met Gala, and she was way underdressed. The dress, itself, was blah, and matched her skin tone so closely that it washed her out. The belt, thigh-high boots, and long hair also dressed it down quite a bit. Furthermore, it’s difficult to tell how she was trying to honor the theme, making this look an overall miss.

This year’s theme aimed to honor natural elements. While that theme seems easy at first glance, it actually isn’t so simple, since it’s floral prints can easily come across safe and overdone. Alexandra Kopelman’s multicolor Emilia Wickstead dress is a prime example of this. This dress was floral — sure, but it didn’t give us the level of fashion we crave from the Met Gala. The unique silhouette wasn’t enough to make this ensemble look elevated, and the boring hair, makeup, and mismatched necklace furthered the flop.

Alexandra Daddario’s look somehow managed to have too much going on while also being boring. The star showed quite a bit of skin under her lace gown, and the mini romper underneath didn’t do the top layer justice. The black ribbon and gold headpiece felt out of place. Furthermore, the dress’ color washed Daddario out, and the hair and makeup just accentuated this. We would have loved to see her in a color that made her beauty pop a bit more.

As a comedian, Cole Escola is often joking. And, it seems that they were joking, at least a little bit, with their Met Gala attire, too. Even so, this look was too far on the bizarre side. Escola’s look fell somewhere between a bride, a flower girl, and Isaac from “Children of the Corn.” Removing a few elements of the look may have made it look a bit less out there and a little more serious. They should definitely keep the dog basket, though — it’s just too cute.

Gustav Magnar Witzøe wore a bedazzled six pack to the Met Gala, and his place on the worst dressed list doesn’t require much more explanation than that. If anyone could build a super muscular body out of crystals instead of at the gym, it’s probably a Norwegian billionaire, but just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. All kidding aside, this look felt like an interesting and artistic idea that just got a little too costume-y in execution.

Jordan Roth is an expert in the theatre world, so he knows plenty about theatricality. This Valentino look was almost a brilliant execution of the theme. What better way to encompass the “Garden of Time” than with an outfit that shows the lifecycle of flowers? While the poetry here is a hit, the fashion is a bit of a miss. The pink gloves and eyebrows felt like a strange way to accessorize such an artistic piece, and it would have popped much better without the hood and with simple accessories.

Crocs? At the Met Gala? Say it ain’t so! Okay — it’s not, but how dare Josh O’Connor scare us like that? The footwear — Croc or not — just doesn’t work with the rest of this look. On the runway, this suit jacket was styled with a floral print underneath, and this would have been a great way for the “Challengers” star to rock this ensemble in an on-theme and interesting way. As it stands, it’s a bit boring and incongruous.

It wouldn’t be fair to blame Chris Hemsworth; he just got confused about the theme. Someone should have told him that it was “Reawakening Fashion,” not “putting fashion to sleep.” What could be more boring than a beige suit? To make matters worse, he paired it with black shoes, which made it look like he was still half asleep when he pulled something out of his closet. A few men cheated the theme at this year’s Met Gala with a plain suit and flower brooch, but Hemsworth didn’t even add a quick on-theme accessory.

Cynthia Erivo had about as much going on with her outfit as was humanly possible. Erivo’s two-piece Thom Browne ensemble certainly stuck to the theme. She was covered in flower petals and other little elements of nature like bugs and leaves. Unfortunately, this ensemble made it difficult to know where to look. And, the styling certainly didn’t help; the over-the-top shoes, pink bag that looked more appropriate for a much more casual outfit, and overload of jewelry made the ensemble even busier.

For starters, Kylie Minogue’s look didn’t seem very on-theme. But, that wasn’t the biggest problem with this outfit. The dress had outlines of what her body may look like underneath. There was something about this print, however, that made it look like the dress was gathering sweat marks. This look is just reminiscent of the discomfort of being stuck outside on a hot summer day — and hey, that may happen in “The Garden of Time” now and then — but it wasn’t the best interpretation of the theme.

Alton Mason certainly knows a thing or two about fashion. Yet, this custom Thom Browne ensemble just had way too many high fashion elements at once. The suit on its own had quite a bit going on — from its high waist and oversized sleeves to the long train and tweed fabric. Yet, so many other elements were piled on top of it that it felt distracting. The bold, platform shoes, the open shirt, the shiny chest, the bowtie, the pocket square, the face veil — it all was very overwhelming.

Charlotte Tilbury’s snake-inspired dress would have worked better for a Medusa costume than a Met Gala ensemble. The dress, itself, was busy, but it may have worked with different styling. Yet, the tights and peep toe shoes dressed the look down, and her extra long, voluminous locks just added to the messiness of the overall look. This dress needed simpler, sleeker styling to make it really work for the special occasion.

Folks often say that “pain is beauty,” but Kim Kardashian’s Met Gala outfit was painful to just look at. Seriously, how could she even stand in that corset? We don’t wanna know, but in any event, she didn’t look comfortable. This super-small corset was the main focal point of this look, and it was hard to see any other element. If all you can think about when looking at an outfit is how excited the person wearing it must be to put their PJs on, it’s probably not a winner.