Beyonce at the Met Gala: What a difference seven years can make

If Beyonce proved nothing else Monday night, it was that she has upped her Met Gala game something serious since that first trip down Anna Wintour’s red carpet seven years ago.

Plus, after the 2014 post-gala gossip storm around the Solange-Jay Z elevator fight, this event’s 2015 incarnation probably looked like a piece of cake.

The singer’s sense of fashion-as-statement has gotten more daring through the years, to be sure, but it’s her ability to pose on the carpet that has gone from a genteel “Happy to be here” all the way to a butt-kicking “Here I am -- and now you’re happy.”

Back in May 2008, when she was only a month married to Jay Z and alter-ego Sasha Fierce had yet to be fully unleashed, she who would be Queen Bey pulled her hair back in a low bun, donned a safe, baby-pink Armani Prive gown and dutifully stood for photographers, arms akimbo.

Flash forward to May 2015: Beyonce was the picture of confidence Monday night arriving -- dare we say fashionably? -- late and climbing the Met Gala stairs in a beaded, body-baring Givenchy creation that left little to the imagination. And who needed an imagination when “Beyonce” was what was on display.

With a strong, ‘60s-style high pony as her crown, she glanced back over her shoulder devilishly, boldly flirting with the cameras as onlookers admired her assets.

Check out the gallery above for a visual tour of Beyonce’s history at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala.

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