There's no dress code on the Met Gala red carpet.
It’s simply the most fashionable night of the year, says Forty Five Ten women ready to wear specialist Reed Robertson. The Met Gala is celebrities' and designers' opportunities to pull out the craziest, glammest show-stopping outfits. This year’s fashion exhibit theme “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” inspired embellished gowns, long trains, a surprising number of shorter dresses, halos, rosaries and even angel wings. (What else would you expect from Katy Perry?)
Attendees to the Metropolitan Museum of Art found a fashion exhibit inside with about 40 vestments loaned from the Vatican. But celebrities, from Anne Hathaway to Blake Lively, put on their own show. To help us pick our favorite looks from the night, we asked Robertson -- who helped us out with the Oscars' red carpet, too -- to name the Met Gala's best dressed.
“I started sweating; this is Christmas," Robertson exclaimed. "This might be the best Met Gala ever."
High fashion doesn't get better than this.
Rihanna
Robertson could not move when Rihanna, honorary co-chair of the 2018 Met Gala, stepped onto the carpet. In a Pope inspired pearl and crystal-embellished mitre and cloak from the house of Maison Margiela, Rihanna proved once again why she’s the queen of the Met Gala year after year. “We wanted drama, and she answered our prayers,” Robertson said.
Cole Sprouse
With Riverdale co-star Lili Reinhart in hand as they made their Met Gala debut as a couple, Sprouse brought his A game with a Thom Browne long coat and cropped pant.
“It’s a little bit funky and a little bit wrong, but I love it. It’s the perfect way to do priest chic,” Robertson said.
He may be new to this carpet, but Sprouse lost his Disney-cute charm and added Hollywood-cool factor that made him fit right in with the other high-fashion celebs.
Anne Hathaway
“My fashion cup runneth over,” Roberston said as Hathaway swept the carpet in a blood red gown by Valentino Couture’s spring/summer 2018 collection. Known to always wear Valentino due to her long standing relationship with the house of Valentino (Robertson’s personal favorite couture collection), Hathaway immediately knew this stunner was the one when creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli sent her an image, reports said. Earrings by James Banks Design, a jewelry company created by Hathaway’s husband Adam Shulman, added a sophisticated touch to her look.
Dallas folks, you also have a chance to get your hands on a pair of her bling: Hathaway's after-party earrings are being sent to Dallas to be auctioned off on DIFFA’s May 12 event, House of Diffa 2018 at the Omni Hotel Downtown.
Zoe Kravitz
In black lace gown by Saint Laurent, actress and model Kravitz bared skin, as the two sides of the dress were held together by beaded bows. “She is a literal present, a gift to all of us all tied up in a bow,” Robertson said. The dress displayed her tattoos, which add an edginess to the dress, pink diamond earrings and matching ring.
Troye Sivan
“50 shades of red, all red, all day long, and I absolutely love it,” Roberston said, describing singer and YouTube personality Troye Sivan’s all red Valentino suit. Another newcomer to the Met carpet, Sivan didn't just play it safe.
Katharine McPhee
In a baby blue George Chakra Couture dress and bodysuit underneath, American Idol alum and Smash actress also made it onto Robertson's top dressed list. "I love that she also decided to wear every accessory in the box, but she makes it work. The blue is just also so pretty, and the illusions from the pattern: Love it," Robertson said.
SZA
A vision in blush pink: With her Versace princess gown (Donatella Versace is another co-chair), thigh high boots and celestial headpiece, SZA mastered her Met Gala debut and had her very own Cinderella moment on fashion’s favorite night. Gold jewel tears on her cheek added a glitzy finishing touch, because, as Robertson said, “if you’re going to cry on the red carpet, make them 24K.”
Lily Aldridge
Wearing a stunning yellow Ralph Lauren shirt dress number, model Lily Aldridge added a pop of color to the Met carpet. “Talk about a heavenly body, and you can stop traffic with that yellow. Also, there’s really nothing like throwing on a shirt and going to the Met Gala,” Robertson said. To add the bling-wow factor, Aldridge also wore a Bulgari statement necklace.
Ariana Grande
Robertson’s jaw dropped when Ariana Grande first appeared on his TV screen. With this year marking her first Met Gala, Grande went with a strapless Vera Wang gown that featured a painting of Michelangelo’s “The Last Judgment” in the Sistine Chapel. “I just want to take a little nap in that dress, it looks like a pillow,” Roberston said. In classic Grande style, she also wore a giant gold bow. “That’s the bow of all dreams, every other bow can just say 'bye.'”
Sarah Jessica Parker
“I don’t know what else to say besides Pope Parker. Carrie Bradshaw goes to the Vatican,” Robertson said. Her metallic gold Dolce & Gabbana gown and nativity scene headpiece played directly into the theme of the Gala.
To Robertson, SJP's look is why she stands with Rihanna as the unofficial queens of Met night.
Emma Stone
Posing with Louis Vuitton creative director Nicolas Ghesquière on the Met carpet, Stone wore one of his navy blue dress designs with gold accents, a plunging neckline and leg slits. As an ambassador for Louis Vuitton, it’s no surprise that Stone opted for a look from this French fashion house. Robertson’s reaction to one of Hollywood’s favorite girls? “Oh, sweet Jesus.”
Priyanka Chopra
“I mean, who needs a necklace and who needs earrings when you can just make your entire head a giant gold jewelry piece?” Robertson said. Chopra also embraced her Hindu religion with accents of crimson in the velvet Ralph Lauren gown. Her deep red lip added an additional sophisticated drama.
Jennifer Lopez
Arm in arm with boyfriend Alex Rodriguez, Lopez turned heads with her Balmain black glitzy dress with a red and blue cross on her chest. Her slicked-back, blunt-chopped short hair showed off the great detail of the dress. To Robertson, “She is the exhibit. Stunning.”
Kendall Jenner
“I mean this is good, this is so good. She is a sweet angel baby,” Robertson remarked about Jenner’s Off-White jumpsuit along with her Tiffany & Co. diamond earrings and rings. What also stole the show of Jenner’s look? Her long, slick ponytail. “I would come back in my second life as her ponytail,” Robertson said.
Cardi B
Cardi B, in a bejeweled Moschino number, showed off her baby bump in her Gala debut. “The theme with Cardi is pregnant Elizabethan, but make it fashion. The perfect entrance look for her first Gala,” Robertson said.
Zendaya
“Leave it to my favorite red carpet saint to interpret Joan of Arc in the chicest way possible. They would have never burned this gown at the stake, that’s for certain,” Robertson said. Zendaya, in chainmail Versace inspired by the heroine, also introduced a new hairstyle with a red bob.
Blake Lively
Lively did it again. In a Versace gown, Christian Louboutin shoes and more than $2 million in Lorraine Schwartz jewels, including a custom-made halo, Lively stole the show at her ninth appearance at the Met Gala. “My apologies to Meghan Markle, but I am officially over the Royal Wedding. I have gotten everything I ever needed from a wedding, from this dress,” Robertson said.
