The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual Costume Institute gala was last night. The dress code? “Sunday Best,” aptly chosen for the new exhibition: “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.” Celebrities and designers were tasked with dreaming up looks that nodded subtly to religious references, symbols, and traditions. Some took it to the extreme—see: the nativity scene perched atop Sarah Jessica Parker’s head, Rihanna’s pearl-encrusted mitre, and Frances McDormand’s scene-stealing Valentino haute couture number—and others, like Blake Lively and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, seemed to have stepped out of a Renaissance painting. Headpieces were a major trend, too, from delicate crowns to face-obscuring veils and Janelle Monae’s wide-brim hat, which was lined with metallic gold to create the illusion of a medieval halo.
The night was full of surprises after the red carpet, too. The Sistine Chapel Choir flew in for the occasion; Kim Kardashian, Kendall Jenner, and Kylie Jenner filmed a special Vogue video inside the Met galleries, along with celebrities like SZA and Cardi B; and Madonna shocked everyone with a divine performance (including, yes, “Like a Prayer”). People will be talking about it all week—and if you’re eager to see the exhibit itself, mark your calendar for Thursday, May 10, when it opens to the public.
