Colman Domingo arrives in a sapphire cloak and golden mantel designed by Alessandro Michele, formerly of Gucci and now at the helm of Valentino.
Photograph: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue
The Sing Sing star sheds the cloak to reveal a joyfully pattern-clashing look of grids and polka dots.
Photograph: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue
Gigi Hadid’s golden gown is custom Miu Miu, inspired by the US fashion designer and costumer Zelda Wynn Valdes, who created the tight tux and tails worn by Playboy bunny waitresses.
Photograph: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Whoopi Goldberg’s finger caps are apparently because she ‘couldn’t get a manicure’ – but the thimble-style accessories could just as easily be a nod to the hours of stitching that no doubt went into this look by New York’s most playful tailor, Thom Browne.
Photograph: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
In an electric blue bubble dress with an ultra-long train, Olympic gymnast and host committee member Simone Biles says her job this year is to ‘just show up, have a good time, wear a beautiful fit, and then just walk the carpet’. Her husband Jonathan Owens matches the look with a large blue crystal brooch, offsetting his white tuxedo with fringe-hemmed trousers.
Photograph: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue
Inspired by a Kim Novak look from The Legend of Lylah Clare, Sydney Sweeney wears a fringe-shouldered gown by Miu Miu.
Photograph: Michael Loccisano/GA/The Hollywood Reporter/Getty Images
Not exactly on theme but elegant nonetheless, Pamela Anderson sports minimal makeup, a brand new bob and a heavily padded, heavily sequinned gown by Tory Burch.
Photograph: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Walton Goggins of White Lotus arrives in a twirl-worthy skirt and deconstructed coat by Thom Browne.
Photograph: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue
Zendaya’s all-white take on the zoot suit, a lavish look worn in Harlem’s dance halls from the mid-1930s. This one is by Pharrell Williams, the men’s creative director at Louis Vuitton.
Photograph: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue
Speaking of Pharrell, the man himself wears a double-breasted, pearl-embellished tuxedo jacket of his own making, with his wife Helen Lasichanh also in Louis Vuitton.
Photograph: Michael Loccisano/GA/The Hollywood Reporter/Getty Images
Tracee Ellis Ross in a tonal pink custom Marc Jacobs suit. She told Vogue she got shivers when milliner Stephen Jones placed his hat on her head.
Photograph: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
Serena Williams’ arrival, with former British Vogue editor Edward Enninful, sparks screams from the paparazzi. It took two helpers to get her tourmaline train coat, designed by outdoor wear label Moncler, up the stairs.
Photograph: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue
Demi Moore is on theme in a black and white gown by Thom Browne resembling a necktie.
Photograph: Michael Loccisano/GA/The Hollywood Reporter/Getty Images
Alicia Keys in a pinstriped Moncler suit by Edward Enninful – the duvet-esque stole is perhaps not surprising given that the brand is mostly known for its puffer jackets.
Photograph: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue
Sabrina Carpenter attributes her lack of trousers to Pharrell Williams, who refused to make them given her diminutive stature. That didn’t stop him adding elongated tux tails to her coffee-coloured and tightly tailored jacket.
Photograph: Theo Wargo/FilmMagic
Aimee Lou Wood, who said she was terrified to turn up to her first Met Gala, arrives with Patrick Schwarzenegger. She’s wearing UK designer Pri Ahluwalia – with flowers blooming from her socks – while Schwarzenegger’s yolk yellow shirt and pinstriped suit is custom Balmain.
Photograph: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue
Ayo Edibiri in a white shirt turned gown, dripping in red crystals, by Ferragamo’s creative director Maximilian Davis. Edibiri told Vogue that Davis is ‘Black and part of the diaspora’.
Photograph: John Shearer/WireImage
Priyanka Chopra Jonas dons a dotty custom Balmain look designed by Olivier Rousteing.
Photograph: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue
In a fresh mint green suit by Chanel, Lupita Nyong’o accessorises with one of the house’s signature camellias.
Photograph: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue
‘I’ve just been inspired by the 80s,’ Doja Cat says of her custom Marc Jacobs look and a turned-up Tina Turner hairdo. Jacobs told Vogue: ‘Our goal is always to please who we’re dressing.’ Mission accomplished.
Photograph: Michael Buckner/Penske Media/Getty Images
Damson Idris finds a creative way to keep dry,arriving in a motorcycle helmet and white parachute jumpsuit over a golden-chequered blood-red suit by Tommy Hilfiger, with ultra-wide flares and matching boots.
Photograph: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue
Harlem tailor Dapper Dan, renowned for his bootleg, ultra-branded suits, told Vogue this event was the most important moment of his career. Instead of a logo, this zoot suit is printed with a sankofa symbol, a tribute to the Harlem renaissance and the idea that reflecting on the past helps you move forward into a successful future.
Photograph: Theo Wargo/FilmMagic
Wearing custom Valentino, US sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson shows off Flo-Jo-esque nails by Angie Aguirre, who described the stiletto-shaped style, entailing different adornments for each nail, as ‘a garden on a finger’.
Photograph: Gilbert Flores/Variety/Getty Images
Mary J Blige’s golden ghost of a fedora is by Stephen Jones. She wears it with a cream-coloured Stella McCartney three-piece suit (four-piece, if you count the brassiere). She told Vogue it had been a while since she had come to the Met Gala because she was usually not invited.
Photograph: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue
Lizzo debuts a platinum blond hairdo, accessorising her corseted black and white tuxedo gown with an unlit cigarette in a long holder.
Photograph: Cindy Ord/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue
In an impressive bit of product placement, André 3000 released a surprise piano project – ‘7 piano pieces’ – shortly before his arrival at the gala with a baby grand strapped to his back. The piano is a three-quarter sized model made of foam by the design studio Pink Sparrow. Note also the drawstring ‘trashbag’ bag.
Photograph: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue
In another bit of musical product placement, Pink Pony Club singer Chappell Roan wears a crystal and patchwork fuchsia suit.
Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
Quinta Brunson’s pinstripes were constructed in crystals by Sergio Hudson. She told Vogue the look was inspired by Josephine Baker. Hudson has been busy lately – he dressed 16 people for this year’s Met Gala. Her bag is a rare high street sighting at the gala: Kurt Geiger, no less.
Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
In one of the night’s more subtle pinstripes, The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White told Vogue his Louis Vuitton suit ‘got snugger and snugger’ as the outfit came together.
Photograph: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue
Back when tailor Dapper Dan got his start, this kind of monogrammed suiting was not authorised by the brands it referenced. But rapper Doechii’s version was custom-made by Louis Vuitton.
Photograph: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue
Late Vogue editor-at-large André Leon Talley’s presence looms large over this year’s blue carpet, seen in the abundance of capes and cocktail accessories. Lauryn Hill’s undulating, butter yellow version is a particularly dramatic take on the cape.
Photograph: Jeenah Moon/Reuters
FKA Twigs flutters in a feathered flapper dress by British designer Wales Bonner.
Photograph: Gilbert Flores/Variety/Getty Images
Monica L Miller’s book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity inspired both the exhibition and the gala’s theme. Here she wears a capelet by Grace Wales Bonner. The striped shell embellishment harks back to one of the garments by the menswear designer that is featured in the exhibition, a 2015 look made the year after she graduated from Central Saint Martins.
Photograph: Mike Coppola/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue
Rosalía’s minimalist custom Balmain gown is very literally modelled on a mannequin.
Photograph: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Shakira goes full princess in custom Prabal Gurung, with a crushed satin cloak that’s heavily reminiscent of André Leon Talley.
Photograph: Matt Crossick/PA
New York’s most visible Nicks fan Spike Lee arrives in a cap referencing his beloved team and a mini Rimowa suitcase, presumably to ensure a swift journey back.
Photograph: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue
Madonna is a late arrival, in a subdued (for her) Haider Ackermann suit. She’s one of several guests who accessorised with cigarettes and cigars. Good thing this one isn’t lit, because those Desperately Seeking Susan mesh gloves look slightly flammable.
Photograph: John Shearer/WireImage
A$AP Rocky launched his fashion label AWGE last year. His heavily accessorised look – complete with a crystal-studded umbrella – is from that brand. ‘I really wanted to give it a bit of Harlem Nights,’ he told Vogue.
Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
Fedoras, like this one worn by actor LaKeith Stanfield, are one of the night’s standout trends.
Photograph: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Thom Browne is one of the night’s most popular designers, covering Zoe Saldana in self-covered buttons.
Photograph: Lexie Moreland/WWD/Getty Images
Janelle Monae brings new meaning to the phrase it’s hip to be square in a custom Browne look, made in collaboration with Wicked costume designer Paul Tazewell.
Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA
Still not quite over her Wicked ways, Cynthia Erivo wears custom Givenchy couture by Sarah Burton.
Photograph: Michael Buckner/Penske Media/Getty Images
Halle Berry’s take on stripes is to place them very, very strategically.
Photograph: Michael Buckner/Penske Media/Getty Images
Instead of a bag, designer Olivier Rousteing carries a solid metal Balmain-branded sewing machine.
Photograph: Michael Loccisano/GA/The Hollywood Reporter/Getty Images
The always fashionably late Rihanna is one of the last to arrive, following well behind her husband A$AP Rocky. She uses her pinstriped outfit as a pregnancy announcement, with a bustle offsetting her bump.
Photograph: Taylor Hill/Getty Images