Pamela Anderson was glowing at her first Met Gala

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It's hard to believe that Pamela Anderson has never been to the Met Gala before, but last night night saw the industry veteran grace those famous steps at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the very first time, making her debut in an elegant nude gown by Oscar de la Renta.

The silky dress featured multiple layers held together by visible safety pins, so that it draped delicately off her right shoulder. The sheer fabric ruched elegantly around her midsection before cascading down into a billowing train.

Multiple diamond strings complemented the gown’s asymmetrical look, while a small smattering of crystals accentuated the hip of the dress. As a whole, the design included nearly 200 carats worth of diamonds from Pandora, for whom the actor is a spokesperson.

Anderson wore her blonde hair in her signature loose updo, adding nude feathers to match her ensemble. She also sported some low-key make-up by the beauty legend Pat McGrath — a surprising move for the Baywatch star, who has typically opted to go bare-faced in recent months, even at the most glamorous of events. The previous night, Anderson attended a pre–Met Gala party at La Mercerie in New York, going without make-up entirely. For the main event, she kept it simple with shimmering gold eye shadow, powder-pink blush, and a glossy brown lip.

“I feel like everything has led me to this pinnacle moment where I get to be at the Met,” Anderson told The New York Times before the gala. “I can imagine that in the past I was not someone that [Anna Wintour] would ever take a second look at. I wasn’t in fashion, ever. I wasn’t cool. And I know those things may seem really superficial to some people, but it means a lot to me. I think I’m ready to meet her now.”

This year’s dress code, 'The Garden of Time', is inspired by J.G. Ballard’s 1962 short story of the same name. The theme examines the intrinsic connection between time and natural beauty — leaving attendees to interpret this as they please.

'The Garden of Time' also complements the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition, 'Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,' which will include about “250 objects spanning four centuries” from the institute’s vast collection, all of them “visually united by iconography related to nature, which will serve as a metaphor for the fragility and ephemerality of fashion,” according to a press release. The exhibition will feature a number of modern technologies in its display, too, “from cutting-edge tools, artificial intelligence, and computer-generated imagery to traditional formats of x-rays, video animation, light projection, and soundscapes.”

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