Photos: AP
NEW YORK
Cardi B swept by in a stunning red quilted dress accentuated with a matching sequin headpiece, feathers and a train that took up much of the pink carpet, Jared Leto was accompanied by his own (fake) head and Katy Perry came as a candled chandelier at the crazy, campy Met Gala on Monday night.
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Lady Gaga used the carpet as a runway and a changing station — earning giggles and claps from Anna Wintour — and Tiffany Haddish brought fried chicken in a plastic bag as many of the A-list guests worked the camp theme to the max. That included Zendaya, whose Cinderella Tommy Hilfiger dress went aglow with the wave of a magic wand. She dropped one of her see-through slippers on the way up the long staircase at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the cocktail hour.
Also princessy, of the saucy variety: Nicki Minaj in a short pink Prabal Gurung dress with yards and yards to her train, the last star to walk the carpet. Perry, whose look was created by Jeremy Scott for Moschino, said she wanted to be “of the light,” though she appeared concerned her heavy looking headpiece would topple as she smiled and walked precariously up the stairs, designer Diane von Furstenberg briefly in her orbit as Lady Liberty. Perry, Bella Hadid dished, “had to be trucked here in a UPS truck.” (She changed from chandelier to a fully loaded Moschino burger for dinner).
Emily Ratajkowski channeled Cher in a barely there silver dress by Dundas and wing-like headpiece with feathers and hanging crystal strands by the House of Malakai. Tom Ford dressed Gemma Chan, who wore a custom headdress inspired by Elizabeth Taylor, and Versace created a jaw-dropping sparkler for Jennifer Lopez. She wore a 129.48-carat purple and diamond sapphire by Harry Winston around her neck.
Lupita Nyong’o spent four hours getting ready in a rainbow, cool chick getup, her hair high and packed with golden Afro picks. Leto wore a red caftan with jewel loops, cradling his long-haired macabre version of himself, and Tracee Ellis Ross posed inside a gold picture frame attached to the front of her black dress. She noted it’s detachable for the dinner hour, thank goodness.
Regina King, in a copper sequin Oscar de la Renta gown with a large shoulder embellishment, said she wasn’t ready to go full camp, so she stuck to high lacquered hair. “So, glamour is camp,” the Oscar-winner said. “Maybe next year the comfort level will have expanded.”
The 71st annual gala hit a high point early with Lady Gaga working the pink carpet to its fullest in long golden eyelashes and a huge fuchsia dress, peeling off layer after layer until she was down to a bra, panties and fishnet stockings.
This year’s gala theme, “Camp: Notes on Fashion,” was inspired by a seminal 1964 essay by Susan Sontag in which she describes the phenomenon as something that shan’t be talked about: “To talk about Camp is therefore to betray it.” Wintour, who masterminds the gala every year, wore a light pink cape with loose ostrich feathers over a matching gown adorned in a flower sequin design. She told waiting reporters this year’s theme is anything goes. “I hope they have a lot of fun,” she said of her A-list guests. “The more crazy the better.”
