Kendall Jenner was named one of the winners of the 2024 Met Gala carpet earlier this week, wearing a stunning archival Givenchy dress from 1999 that looked as if it had been made to fit her body. Fittingly for an evening celebrating the Costume Institute's "Sleeping Beauties: Waking Up Fashion" exhibition, Jenner claimed she was the "first person" to wear the gown. 'We put it on a mannequin,' the model told La La Anthony on Vogue's live stream. It's a miracle we found it. It's a miracle that it fits. It feels like fate."

The world believed her words, and the media reported the news accordingly: Kendall Jenner was the first person to wear this historic outfit. But as soon as the headlines were released, a backlash erupted. What is really going on? Did Kendall Jenner make history with Givenchy?" The answer is complicated.

Jenner's Met Gala gown is a 1999 Givenchy archival dress designed by Alexander McQueen. Her dress was embellished with 100,000 black and chocolate brown beads and sequins and took 500 hours to sew. It features a sculptural low-cut neckline, beaded tassel sleeves, a delicate squiggly beaded pattern, and V-shaped cutouts along the hips and lower back. Jenner coordinated with longtime stylist Dani Michel. And in an interview, she claimed that she was the first person to wear the outfit.

While many Met Gala viewers applauded Jenner's look, some style historians and fashion-focused social media accounts had a different reaction. While she looked gorgeous, she may not have been the "first person" to wear this outfit.

The Instagram account @McQueen_Vault, which documents Alexander McQueen's career, posted a photo of Winona Ryder in the same gown." Needed: the account wrote on its Instagram Story, "I need an eye replacement due to excessive eye strain," and posted on X (formerly Twitter).

Stylist and creative director Kim Russell tweeted, "Givenchy is old and too big to make such ridiculous claims before fact checking." Parisian stylist @LaModeUnknown wrote, "What a scam."

Complicated.

Some claim that Ryder was the first to wear it. Perfect magazine shared a photo of Ryder in what appears to be Jenner's Met Gala gown, writing, "Givenchy Haute Couture dress Kendall Jenner wore to the Met Gala last night, designed by Alexander McQueen for Fall Winter 1999, worn by Winona Ryder and photographed by Warwick Saint for Flaunt Magazine in 1999," with the caption "Alexander McQueen for Fall Winter 1999, worn by Winona Ryder and photographed by Warwick Saint for Flaunt Magazine in 1999.

However, sources close to the brand told The Cut that Ryder's dress was in fact a replica and that Jenner's McQueen dress was, in fact, an unworn original. Givenchy only cited the archive in its own Instagram post about Jenner's dress.

"Sleeping Beauty or hand-me-down?" the incident would officially end with the Maison (or Jenner's team) issuing a statement.