1988

This is Anna's first year atop Vogue. The theme here was "From Queen to Empress: Victorian Dress," but back then I don't think the theme was quite so entwined with the party itself. Not that it would have mattered to A-Dubs. Perhaps all the black here was an ode to Queen Vic herself, who mourned Albert so wholeheartedly. Sure.

1989

"Yes, little people, mill round and ignore me all you like. One day I will own you all."

1990

This was "Théâtre de la Mode – Fashion Dolls: The Survival of Haute Couture," and that is a whole lot of words. This is also so BOLD

1993

This was "Diana Vreeland: Immoderate Style" and I decided she didn't care that much about paying homage to her predecessor. This may not be true but I like to propose the most dramatic explantion.

1994

Get ready. This was "Orientalism: Visions of the East in Western dress." Yikes. Also, that is Bee's father, David, and yes, Anna is doing the thick pantyhose thing. I assume after Kate and Meghan both got calls from her about how to navigate them with minimal laddering.

1996

The theme this year was Dior, but I don't know if she also wore Dior. It's certainly very pretty on her, though the sunglasses are hilarious. Wintour's gonna Wintour.

1999

We skip a few years here, and I don't know why, as they didn't cancel. Archives are finicky things. Anyway, we leap to ROCK STYLE, which she co-chaired with the here-pictured Aerin Lauder and Tommy Hilfiger, none of them looking especially rock. I guess Anna's furs remind me of something Russell Brand might have worn in his Get Him To The Greek phase.

1999

I threw in this picture for Andre Leon Talley's coat, the conspiratorial glee on their faces, and the fact that they must no longer be speaking given that he's trying to peddle a book that isn't complimentary to her.

2001

There was no gala in 2000. Jessica is covering the hows and whys of that later, so I'll just leave you with a very cranky Anna picture of a dress that works pretty well on her.

2003

Also no gala in 2002, because of 9/11. Ana and her fresh highlights seem very happy to have gotten back in the swing of things, and I believe this Chanel begins her streak of wearing MOSTLY Chanel.

2003

It was better with the fur on. (Tom Ford up there and Nicole Kidman were the co-chairs.)

2004 in Dior

This was "Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the 18th Century," to which Anna hs gone as an extremely opulent chair.

2004

I don't know if Bee started attending this year, or if it's just the first one for which we have a photo of her. She was 16-going-on-17 at the time, innocent as a rose, but fortunately PRESUMABLY there were no Nazi telegram boys there to try and turn her head.

2005 in Chanel

This theme was, wait for it, HOUSE OF CHANEL -- Kidman co-chaired it again, apparently after 2004 had no co-chairs; were there no other celebrities in 2003 and 2005? -- and so Anna was right on point in her dress by the House of Chanel. Presumably this event ALSO did not have any Nazi telegram boys present, though it could have, due to Coco Chanel's background. I'm guessing they ignored that part.

2005

The back of that dress is cumbersome.

2005

For the second year in a row, Bee was stuck with a heavy strapless dress that has a seam across her knees/thighs and a big old black splotch between her boobs. This one makes her look like a stained fainting couch. She deserved better.

2006 in Dior for "AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion"

Well, that DOES look super on her.

2006

It's also highly Extra with the coat on. Bee's fortunes here have also improved. 

2007 in Chanel for "Poiret: King of Fashion"

I really, really wish this had been Poirot: King of Fashion.

2007

This is a stunning color.

2008 in Chanel

For "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy," Anna seems to have dressed as some kind of communications device in Superman's Cave of Solitude.

2008 in Nina Ricci

Off-theme, but hella dreamy.

2009 in Chanel for "The Model as Muse"

I like this on her. But I wouldn't have been surprised if she'd turned around and revealed that it's just a fake and she's wearing black pants.

2009 in Nina Ricci

This is so Nina Ricci for Victoria's Secret. It's neither glam nor sophisticated.

2010, "American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity"

Everyone looks fine here. Actually, Anna might look great? That jacket is really nifty. I just don't love the horizontal folds on the dress. That's never my jam.

2011 in Chanel

This was "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty," and I'm sort of surprised Anna didn't wear McQueen as an homage. She may wish she had, as Karl saddled her with a ghastly Chanel that looks like a makeup palette they had to give away as a gift with purchase because it didn't sell. Meanwhile ALT is back there wishing he'd gone with the glitter robe instead.

2011 in Balenciaga

She didn't go with McQueen EITHER. (This was right after Wills and Kate got married and I suspect Anna had a fleeting hope, once her dress designer was revealed, that Kate might attend or at least send along her dress. Neither happened.) This is not objectionable -- the colr is perfect on her -- but neither is it an homage to the kind of elaborate and evocative work that McQueen made famous. And if Anna isn't going to do it, you'd think Bee would be her vessel for getting with the theme.

2012 in Prada and Erdem

For "Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations," Anna DID break with Chanel and wear Miuccia's offering. It appears to be bedecked with a gold lobster, which, if that's the case, is a very Schiaparelli whimsical touch and actually makes this right on-point. It is the impossible conversation made possible. Well done, Anna. Bee is in a lovely Erdem that resists all of Erdem's worst flourishes.

2012

This photo made me laugh. She's obviously posing this way for the photogs in front of her, and not because she's trying to give the ones behind her a show, but it's a behind-the-scenes moment that I liked.

2013 in Chanel for "Punk: Chaos to Couture"

Gorgeous, and not at all punk.

2013 in Dior

Ditto. Although actually I'm not sure I think this is gorgous. It's got a lot of fiddly bits that look like bad depictions of constellations.

2014 for "Charles James: Beyond Fashion"

This looks like a mosaic of crumpled tissue paper.

2014 in McQueen

Bee's poor dress is vomiting its lunch. Although that sort of volume and play on shape is, I think, a Charles James touch that makes it on-theme? I think? I am not great at the themes, y'all.

2015 in Chanel and McQueen

For "China: Through the Looking Glass," Anna wore a Chanel dress depicting... poppies, the source of opium. I am not sure I would have done that. (It also has echoes of Julianne Moore's custom dress in which she won an Oscar; I'm not sure I would have worn THAT either much less -- in Karl's shoes -- offered Anna anything that resembled an already-worn gown.) Bee's is a little awkward in the bodice area...

2015

... but divine from the back, and the color is once again magic on her.

2015

Anna's was complicated.

2016 in Chanel and McQueen

The Manus x Machina theme didn't necessarily lend itself to a lot of obvious interpretations -- many of them were revealed later. This year and the one preceding were the first times I really wished people would arrive with pamphlets in tow. Bee looks cool, but as if she would be a better fit another year, and Anna has on a lot of fringe.

2016

A LOT. It works, but I might have restricted it to JUST the shoulders.

2017, for "Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garcons: Art Of The In-Between"

This Chanel is certainly in-between SOMETHING. It looks like her party dress mated with a very furry dog. 

Bee in McQueen

This is her third consecutive year in McQueen (after NOT wearing it for the McQueen gala), and it's another very pretty one. She's good with a long train.

2018

Anna actually appears to have giggled in the direction of the "Fashion and the Catholic Imagination" theme, and Bee, in Valentino, is like, "Oh, screw it, I'll just be Sexy Devil."

2019

And finally, "Notes on Camp." Anna cited a Susan Sontag quote: "Camp is a woman walking around in a dress made of 3 million feathers." Mission accomplished. It's also quite GOOD on her, and sh seems very light and happy.

2019 in McQueen

Back to her recent fav for this. It's a pantsuit, and the giant rosette and train. I don't know if it's campy, exactly -- this theme is open to SO much interpretation, and also was one that was ripe for accusation of not truly understanding it; I found it a real challenge to analyze -- but it WAS visually stunning and effective, crisp in a way she usually isn't while still maintaining the big ballgown elements she loves.

The Met is Anna's Party; Here is What She Wears To It

Hint: It's almost always Chanel.