"Gilded glamor" at the annual Met Gala
At the extravagant dress parade on the carpeted stairs of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 400 people from the fields of music, cinema, fashion, sports, and entertainment gathered.
New York's Met Gala returned Monday, with celebrities dressed according to the "gilded glamor" theme.
The fundraiser returned to its regular early May date after the coronavirus epidemic caused the cancellation of the 2020 event and pushed last year's event to the fall.
Blake Lively, who co-hosted the Gala, wore a dress that transformed from an oversized bow to a light blue train that husband actor Ryan Reynolds called an "homage" to New York City architecture, including the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, and Grand Central station.
Singer Alicia Keys had a similar look, wearing a black cape by Ralph Lauren showing the city's skyline in silver beading.
Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, who manages the charity dinner that earns millions of dollars for the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was among the first to arrive.
The event was first hosted in 1948 and was once exclusive to New York's upper society. When Wintour took over the party in 1995, she transformed it into a runway for the affluent and famous.
Actor Riz Ahmed said his look, a black open shirt with a white undershirt and leather boots, was "an homage to the immigrant workers who kept the Gilded Age golden."
Among the stars invited were Shawn Mendes, Lizzo, tennis star Venus Williams, and Hilary Clinton.
Sarah Jessica Parker wore a Christopher John Rogers gown that paid tribute to Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley, the first Black female fashion designer in the White House as Mary Todd Lincoln's seamstress.
Parker said, "The idea was to highlight the dichotomy between the extravagant, over-the-top proportions of the time period, and the disparity that was happening in America at the time."
Mayor of New York City Eric Adams sported a jacket that had "end gun violence" written on the back.
On the red carpet, billionaire Elon Musk was asked about his recent acquisition of Twitter.
Musk stated that "my goal, assuming everything gets done, would be to make Twitter as inclusive as possible and have as broad a swath of the country and the rest of the world on Twitter."