From Taylor Swift to Rihanna, see some of the A-listers who skipped this year’s Met Gala

Rihanna . PHOTO: MIKE COPPOLA/GETTY

The 2024 Met Gala was packed with haute couture and household names, but a few key faces were missing from this year’s high-fashion fête.

Regular Gala-goers like Rihanna, Blake Lively and Katy Perry skipped out on “The Garden of Time” theme for a number of reasons, ranging from busy work schedules to a case of the flu. Some typically coordinated couples didn’t step out at all, while other pairs only sent one partner to the Manhattan museum.

Find out why Ben Affleck wasn’t dressed up alongside Jennifer Lopez, what kept Taylor Swift from the Met steps and more reasons why stylish stars opted out of fashion’s big night.

Rihanna

Rihanna.JEFF KRAVITZ/FILMMAGIC

The “Umbrella” singer was a no-show on the Met steps this year. After the carpet ended and the Gala began behind closed doors, PEOPLE exclusively revealed that Rihanna skipped the event after falling ill.

A source shared that the flu kept the style star from continuing her strong streak of memorable Met Gala ensembles, many of which she’s rocked alongside her longtime partner A$AP Rocky, who was also absent from the soirée.

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift.LARRY BUSACCA/GETTY

Shortly before the first Monday in May, PEOPLE confirmed Taylor Swift would not be at the annual fashion function in N.Y.C. Instead, the 14-time Grammy winner was locked into rehearsals as she prepares to continue her iconic Eras Tour in Europe starting this week and spanning until summer. Swift made her last Met Gala appearance as a bleach-blonde co-chair in 2016.

Blake Lively

Blake Lively.GETTY IMAGES

Met Gala mainstay Blake Lively didn’t make an appearance at this year’s party, much to the disappointment of fans looking to see the stylish star dressing to this year’s theme, “The Garden of Time.” Over the years, the Gossip Girl alumna has reigned as one of the most anticipated faces on the Met Gala carpet with consistently glamorous getups and gowns. In 2022, she co-chaired the event and channeled her city spirit in a color-changing dress inspired by the Statue of Liberty.

Brittany & Patrick Mahomes

Brittany and Patrick Mahomes.BRITTANY MAHOMES / INSTAGRAM

Brittany and Patrick Mahomes didn’t return to the Metropolitan Museum of Art following their first appearance at the Gala last year. But a few days before this year’s event, the couple was seen some states south of New York enjoying sun and fun at the F1 Miami Grand Prix, where they hung out with Patrick’s teammate Travis Kelce.

Ben Affleck

Ben Affleck.GARY MILLER/WIREIMAGE

Co-chair Jennifer Lopez glittered in a crystal-covered naked dress on fashion’s biggest night of the year, but her husband Ben Affleck was nowhere to be seen. A rep for the actor confirmed to PEOPLE that the actor was busy filming his latest project,The Accountant 2, in Los Angeles.

Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga. DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS/GETTY

Though it has been a few years since Lady Gaga’s last Met Gala appearance, her 2019 entrance at “Camp: Notes on Fashion” is hard to forget. She rocked not one, not two, not three, but four different looks during her walk up the stairs, which started with a voluminous pink cape and ended in lingerie.

While this was not the year, the superstar has left quite the high bar for whenever she does choose to return to the Gala. Just a few days before fashion’s biggest night, Gaga shared a short clip to Instagram along with the caption “🖤🎼💋music is not work I’m so lucky.”

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Travis Barker & Kourtney Kardashian

Travis Barker and Kourtney Kardashian. CINDY ORD/MG22/GETTY IMAGES FOR THE MET MUSEUM/VOGUE

Travis Barker and Kourtney Kardashian made their Met Gala debut in 2022, a year before the pair tied the knot in 2023. After skipping last year’s party as well, the two were absent again this year after sharing in recent days that they’ve been vacationing in the Bahamas.

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Katy Perry

Katy Perry.RABBANI AND SOLIMENE PHOTOGRAPHY/WIREIMAGE

After missing last year’s Gala, Katy Perry was also a no-show this year, but that didn’t keep fans from dreaming up what she would’ve worn to fit the “Garden of Time” theme. Even the singer herself got in on the fun, sharing a viral AI-generated image of her wearing a floral, fairytale-inspired gown at the event. “Couldn’t make it to the MET, had to work,” she captioned her Instagram post.

Perry, whose last appearance was at the 2022 event, has been busy with all things American Idol in recent weeks though after dressing as a cheeseburger and chandelier in years past we wish we could have seen what she would have whipped up this year.

Chrissy Teigen

Chrissy Teigen.

As the stars were making their way down the red carpet at this year’s Met Gala, Chrissy Teigen shared a photo to her Instagram Story of herself wearing a foam neck brace along with the caption “@ the Met!” A few slides later she clarified that she’s “fine” but is wearing the brace after she “tried to do a headstand.”

She went on to say that the injury was not the reason she wasn’t walking the red carpet, explaining that she “was never going to the Met this year.”

Teigen last hit the carpet with husband John Legend in 2017.