If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, SheKnows may receive an affiliate commission.
The Trump family didn’t just use to be invited to the Met Gala — they used to be the backbone of exactly who Anna Wintour and her event-planning cohorts wanted there. And since 2016, they’ve basically been banned (so don’t count on seeing any members of the Trump family at the 2026 Met Gala)!
Case in point: Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, longtime lead organizer of the Met Gala and fashion director for New York Fashion Week, was Melania Trump’s close friend and confidante until her brief stint as the First Lady’s advisor resulted in a shattered friendship and tell-all book Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship With the First Lady. In her book, Wolkoff opens up not just about what led to the dissolution of their relationship but of the particular pride the Trumps took in their Met Gala association over the years — and what happened when those invite calls stopped coming.
Related story
King Charles III’s Visit With Donald Trump Has Royals Uneasy
“In 2010, in order to give them the best possible seats, I hosted Donald and Melania at my table at the Met Gala,” Wolkoff recalls. “As soon as Donald sat down, he asked, ‘Where’s Anna’s table?’ Real estate was everything to him, and if he wasn’t seated close enough to Anna, well, he wasn’t happy about it.”
“People who could easily afford to buy tickets begged to purchase them, but it was by invitation only,” Wolkoff recalls of her nine years running the event. “Donald always stuck to the minimum with two $1,500 individual tickets — the cheapest available — as did his daughter Ivanka.”
When Donald wanted to propose to Melania in 2004 after five years of dating, Wolkoff says he knew the Met Gala would be the perfect place to announce the news. He proposed that evening and Melania wore out the $1.5 million sparkler to cement her status as a member of high society now that she was Donald’s wife-to-be, a series of steps Wolkoff recounts as being planned to a tee.
Ivanka enjoyed a longer run on the Met Gala red carpet than her father, Donald, and his third wife, continuing to show up in 2013, 2014, 2015, and even 2016 to the Vogue-run event with Jared Kushner on her arm and an increasing shadow of controversy billowing around her.
From 1990 to that final year of Trump attendance, 2016, read on for photos of all the Trump family members who were once a mainstay of the Met Gala red carpet ahead of the 2026 event!
A version of this story was originally published in 2021.
Blaine Trump (1990)
Image Credit: Penske Media via Getty Images
Blaine Trump was the first Trump member to ever go to the Met Gala.
Ivana Trump (1996)
Image Credit: Penske Media via Getty Images
Ivana Trump attended the Met Gala honoring Christian Dior back in 1996 (and went solo)!
Blaine Trump (1998)
Image Credit: Penske Media via Getty Images
Blaine Trump was actually one of the best dressed at the 1998 Met Gala!
Blaine Trump (2003)
Image Credit: Fairchild Archive/Penske Media.
Blaine Trump, the ex-wife of Donald Trump’s brother Robert Trump, attended the Met Gala with extended family members in 2003 too.
Donald & Melania Trump (2003)
Image Credit: Penske Media via Getty Images
Back when Melania was just Donald’s girlfriend, they attended the 2003 “Party of the Year” Met Gala together.
Ivana Trump (2004)
Image Credit: Fairchild Archive/Penske Media.
Ivanka, mother of Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric Trump, attended the Met Gala in 2004 — the same night that Donald proposed to Melania before their arrival.
Donald & Melania Trump (2004)
Image Credit: Fairchild Archive/Penske Media.
Melania wore her engagement ring from Donald out for the first time at the 2004 Met Gala.
Ivanka Trump (2004)
Image Credit: Penske Media via Getty Images
Ivanka Trump also attended the ‘Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the 18th Century’ event alongside Donald and Melania.
Ivana Trump & Rossano Rubicondi (2005)
Image Credit: Fairchild Archive/Penske Media.
Ivana Trump brought along ex-husband Rossano Rubicondi at the 2005 Met Gala, themed “The House of Chanel.”
Ivanka Trump (2005)
Image Credit: Fairchild Archive/Penske Media.
Ivanka Trump wore this long black dress with a big collar to the 2005 Met Gala, two years before she would meet her husband Jared Kushner.
Donald & Melania Trump (2005)
Image Credit: Fairchild Archive/Penske Media.
The year that Donald and Melania got married, they appeared at the Chanel-themed Met Gala in full black-tie.
Donald & Melania Trump (2006)
Image Credit: Fairchild Archive/Penske Media.
Melania Trump attended the Met Gala just a few months after son Barron was born in March 2006, covering what remained of a baby bump with this long white gown.
Ivana Trump (2006)
Image Credit: Getty Images
Ivana Trump also attended the 2006 Met Gala solo.
Ivanka Trump (2006)
Image Credit: Getty Images
And so did her daughter Ivanka Trump!
Ivanka Trump (2007)
Image Credit: NYT Syndicate
Ivanka Trump wore this very bridal-looking Jason Wu dress to the Met Gala in 2007.
Donald & Melania Trump (2007)
Image Credit: NYT Syndicate
Donald and Melania Trump pictured in 2007, the latter dressed in a flapper-esque gold Roberto Cavalli dress with Fred Leighton jewelry.
Ivanka Trump (2008)
Image Credit: Getty Images
Ivanka Trump paired a white J. Mendel gown with a Wonder Woman-esque headpiece for this year’s Gala.
Melania Trump (2008)
Image Credit: Fairchild Archive/Penske Media.
Melania Trump wore this hot pink Vera Wang gown to the “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy” Met Gala in 2008.
Donald & Melania Trump (2009)
Image Credit: Fairchild Archive/Penske Media.
For “The Model As Muse: Embodying Fashion” in 2009, Melania Trump wore an off-the-shoulder gown with metallic accents.
Ivanka Trump (2010)
Image Credit: Kristen Somody Whalen.
Ivanka Trump’s 2010 Atelier Versace look celebrated the theme of “American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity.”
Ivanka Trump & Jared Kushner (2010)
Image Credit: Fairchild Archive/Penske Media
From 2009 on, Jared Kushner became a mainstay at Ivanka’s side on the red carpet.
Donald & Melania Trump (2010)
Image Credit: Fairchild Archive/Penske Media.
Donald posed with Melania in 2010 in her Christian Siriano navy blue gown.
Donald & Melania Trump (2012)
Image Credit: Fairchild Archive/Penske Media.
Donald and Melania got back into black-tie formalwear for 2012’s “Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations.”
Ivanka Trump (2012)
Image Credit: Fairchild Archive/Penske Media.
Ivanka Trump was back on the Met Gala red carpet in a blue velvet Peter Pilotto dress a year after giving birth to daughter Arabella in 2011.
Ivanka Trump & Jared Kushner (2013)
Image Credit: Fairchild Archive/Penske Media.
Ivanka and Jared tried their best for “Punk: Chaos to Couture,” with the former modeling a blue and green Juan Carlos Obando dress.
Ivanka Trump (2014)
Image Credit: Getty Images
Ivanka Trump donned this dramatic green Oscar de la Renta gown for 2014’s “Charles James: Beyond Fashion” Gala.
Jared Kushner & Ivanka Trump (2015)
Image Credit: Getty Images
It was the beginning of the end, but Ivanka’s fashion access was still unfettered in 2015 as she wore this Prabal Gurung gown on the red carpet.
Wendi Deng Murdoch & Ivanka Trump (2016)
Image Credit: Aurora Rose
Wendi Deng Murdoch, who famously got Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner back together by secretly inviting them both to her yacht after their break, per Kushner, Inc., posed with Ivanka at the Met Gala the last year she would be invited, where she wore red Ralph Lauren.
Jared Kushner & Ivanka Trump (2016)
Image Credit: Mike Coppola
One more shot of the last time either Jared Kushner or Ivanka Trump was invited.