| Date | Theme | Co-chairs | Honorary chairs | Sponsor | Ticket price | Ref(s). |
| March 21, 1973 | The World of Balenciaga | None | None | Government of Spain | $85 | |
| December 12, 1973 | The 10s, the 20s, the 30s: Inventive Clothes: 1909–1939 | Phyllis Ellsworth Dillon | None | | $100 | |
| November 20, 1974 | Romantic and Glamorous Hollywood Design | Jane Engelhard | None | SCM Corporation | $150 | |
| December 10, 1975 | American Women of Style | Jane Engelhard | None | SCM Corporation | $125 | |
| December 6, 1976 | The Glory of Russian Costume | Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis | None | SCM Corporation | $150 | |
| December 12, 1977 | Vanity Fair: A Treasure Trove | Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis | None | Halston | | |
| November 20, 1978 | Diaghilev: Costumes and Designs of the Ballets Russes | Pat Buckley | None | | | |
| December 3, 1979 | Fashions of the Habsburg Era: Austria-Hungary | Pat Buckley | None | | $200 | |
| December 9, 1980 | The Manchu Dragon: Costumes of China, the Chi'ng Dynasty | Pat Buckley | None | | | |
| December 7, 1981 | The Eighteenth-Century Woman | Pat Buckley | None | Merle Norman Cosmetics | $350 | |
| December 6, 1982 | La Belle Époque | Pat Buckley | None | Pierre Cardin | $500 | |
| December 5, 1983 | Yves Saint Laurent: 25 Years of Design | Pat Buckley | None | Gustave Zumsteg | $500 | |
| December 3, 1984 | Man and the Horse | Pat Buckley | None | Ralph Lauren | $750 | |
| December 9, 1985 | Costumes of Royal India | Pat Buckley | None | Ratti, Christian Humann Foundation | | |
| December 8, 1986 | Dance | Pat Buckley | None | Shiseido | $750 | |
| December 7, 1987 | A Tribute to Diana Vreeland | Pat Buckley | None | Reliance Group Holdings | $850 | |
| December 5, 1988 | From Queen to Empress: Victorian Dress 1837–1877 | Pat Buckley | None | The Leslie Fay Companies | $850 | |
| December 4, 1989 | The Age of Napoleon: Costume from Revolution to Empire, 1789–1815 | Pat Buckley | None | Wolfgang K. Flottl | | |
| December 3, 1990 | Théâtre de la Mode – Fashion Dolls: The Survival of Haute Couture | Pat Buckley | None | Wolfgang K. Flottl | $900 | |
| December 9, 1991 | No theme, as no concurrent costume exhibition was held | Pat Buckley | None | | | |
| December 7, 1992 | Fashion and History: A Dialogue | Pat Buckley | None | | | |
| December 6, 1993 | Diana Vreeland: Immoderate Style | Pat Buckley | None | | $900 | |
| December 5, 1994 | Orientalism: Visions of the East in Western dress | Pat Buckley, Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass | None | | $900 | |
| December 4, 1995 | Haute Couture | Anna Wintour, Annette de la Renta, Clarissa Bronfman | Karl Lagerfeld, Gianni Versace | Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, Gianni Versace | $1,000 | |
| December 9, 1996 | Christian Dior | Elizabeth Tilberis, Marie-Chantal, Crown Princess of Greece, Helene David-Weill | None | Dior, LVMH | $1,000 | |
| December 8, 1997 | Gianni Versace | Anna Wintour, Julia Koch, Patrick McCarthy | None | David H. Koch Foundation, VH1, Fairchild Publications | $2,000 | |
| December 7, 1998 | Cubism and Fashion | Anna Wintour, Miuccia Prada, Paula Cussi, Pia Getty | None | Prada | $2,000 | |
| December 6, 1999 | Rock Style | Anna Wintour, Tommy Hilfiger, Aerin Lauder | None | Tommy Hilfiger, Estée Lauder | | |
| April 23, 2001 | Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years | Anna Wintour, Christina and Lindsay Owen-Jones, Annette and Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera | Caroline Kennedy and Edwin A. Schlossberg | L'Oréal | | |
| April 28, 2003 | Goddess: The Classical Mode | Anna Wintour, Tom Ford, Nicole Kidman | None | Gucci | | |
| April 26, 2004 | Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the 18th Century | Anna Wintour, Renée Zellweger, Lawrence Stroll, Silas Chou, Edgar Bronfman Jr. | Jacob Rothschild, Jayne Wrightsman | Asprey | | |
| May 2, 2005 | The House of Chanel | Anna Wintour, Karl Lagerfeld, Nicole Kidman | Caroline, Princess of Hanover | Chanel | | |
| May 1, 2006 | AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion | Anna Wintour, Christopher Bailey, Sienna Miller | Rose Marie Bravo, The Duke of Devonshire | Burberry | | |
| May 7, 2007 | Poiret: King of Fashion | Anna Wintour, Cate Blanchett, Nicolas Ghesquière | François-Henri Pinault | Balenciaga | | |
| May 5, 2008 | Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy | Anna Wintour, George Clooney, Julia Roberts | Giorgio Armani | Giorgio Armani | | |
| May 4, 2009 | The Model As Muse: Embodying Fashion | Anna Wintour, Kate Moss, Justin Timberlake | Marc Jacobs | Marc Jacobs | $7,500 | |
| May 3, 2010 | American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity | Anna Wintour, Oprah Winfrey, Patrick Robinson | None | Gap | | |
| May 2, 2011 | Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty | Anna Wintour, Colin Firth, Stella McCartney | François-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek | Alexander McQueen | | |
| May 7, 2012 | Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations | Anna Wintour, Carey Mulligan, Miuccia Prada | Jeff Bezos | Amazon | | |
| May 6, 2013 | Punk: Chaos to Couture | Anna Wintour, Rooney Mara, Lauren Santo Domingo, Riccardo Tisci | Beyoncé | Moda Operandi | $15,000 | |
| May 5, 2014 | Charles James: Beyond Fashion | Aerin Lauder, Anna Wintour, Bradley Cooper, Oscar de la Renta, Sarah Jessica Parker, Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch | None | AERIN | $25,000 | |
| May 4, 2015 | China: Through the Looking Glass | Anna Wintour, Jennifer Lawrence, Gong Li, Marissa Mayer, Wendi Murdoch | Silas Chou | Yahoo | $25,000 | |
| May 2, 2016 | Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology | Anna Wintour, Taylor Swift, Idris Elba, Jonathan Ive | Nicolas Ghesquière, Karl Lagerfeld, Miuccia Prada | Apple | $30,000 | |
| May 1, 2017 | Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between | Anna Wintour, Gisele Bündchen and Tom Brady, Katy Perry, Pharrell Williams | Rei Kawakubo | Apple, Condé Nast, Farfetch, H&M, Maison Valentino | $30,000 | |
| May 7, 2018 | Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination | Anna Wintour, Rihanna, Amal Clooney, Donatella Versace | Christine and Stephen A. Schwarzman | Christine and Stephen A. Schwarzman, Versace | $30,000 | |
| May 6, 2019 | Camp: Notes on Fashion | Anna Wintour, Lady Gaga, Harry Styles, Serena Williams, Alessandro Michele | None | Gucci | $35,000 | |
| Planned for May 4, 2020 (canceled) | About Time: Fashion and Duration | Anna Wintour, Meryl Streep, Emma Stone, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Nicolas Ghesquière | None | Louis Vuitton | N/A | |
| September 13, 2021 | In America: A Lexicon of Fashion | Timothée Chalamet, Billie Eilish, Amanda Gorman, Naomi Osaka | Tom Ford, Adam Mosseri, Anna Wintour | Instagram | $35,000 | |
| May 2, 2022 | In America: An Anthology of Fashion | Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Regina King | Tom Ford, Adam Mosseri, Anna Wintour | Instagram | $35,000 | |