See Photos From the Met Gala in 1960

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On Monday evening, Hollywood’s brightest stars will don their most dramatic, their strangest and their most avant-garde looks for the Met Gala, the annual fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. Getups in recent years have drawn inspiration from flappers and figure skaters, brides and birds. But in 1960, when the ball was held in the museum’s Great Hall for the first time, guests did not appear to be competing for any weirdest-dressed lists. Pearls, fur and big skirts ruled the evening as guests danced, LIFE wrote, “beneath the gaze of an Egyptian sphinx … and under medieval gonfalons.”

Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LizabethRonk.

Metropolitan Museum Fashion Ball, 1960
Caption from LIFE. The first ball at the Met's Great Hall.Walter Sanders—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Metropolitan Museum Fashion Ball, 1960
Guests dance at the Metropolitan Museum Fashion Ball, 1960.Walter Sanders—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Metropolitan Museum Fashion Ball, 1960
Guests dance at the Metropolitan Museum Fashion Ball, 1960.Walter Sanders—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Metropolitan Museum Fashion Ball, 1960
Ladies take a break at the Met Fashion Ball, 1960.Walter Sanders—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Metropolitan Museum Fashion Ball, 1960
Guests at the Metropolitan Museum Fashion Ball, 1960.Walter Sanders—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Metropolitan Museum Fashion Ball, 1960
Guests dance in front of a statue of Aphrodite at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1960.Walter Sanders—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Metropolitan Museum Fashion Ball, 1960
Guests at the Metropolitan Museum Fashion Ball, 1960.Walter Sanders—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Metropolitan Museum Fashion Ball, 1960
Guests at the first Metropolitan Museum Fashion Ball, 1960.Walter Sanders—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Metropolitan Museum Fashion Ball, 1960
A woman admires the dress on a mannequin, 1960.Walter Sanders—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Metropolitan Museum Fashion Ball, 1960
Gala guests with a statue of the Sphinx, 1960.Walter Sanders—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Metropolitan Museum Fashion Ball, 1960
Women model costume dresses at the ball, 1960.Walter Sanders—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Metropolitan Museum Fashion Ball, 1960
Women modeling white dresses at the ball, 1960.Walter Sanders—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Metropolitan Museum Fashion Ball, 1960
Models pose in elaborate dresses, 1960.Walter Sanders—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Metropolitan Museum Fashion Ball, 1960
Dancing nose to nose at the Metropolitan Museum Fashion Ball, 1960.Walter Sanders—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Metropolitan Museum Fashion Ball, 1960
Guests at the first Metropolitan Museum Fashion Ball, 1960.Walter Sanders—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Metropolitan Museum Fashion Ball, 1960
Guests at the first Metropolitan Museum Fashion Ball, 1960.Walter Sanders—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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Write to Eliza Berman at eliza.berman@time.com