Beyoncé's latex outfit, Madonna goes nude couture: Your guide to the 2016 Met Gala

Where can you slather on some glue, roll around in feathers, show up for a red carpet event and have your “look” labelled haute couture? Why, at the Met Gala of course! Humorous hyperboles aside, the Met Gala — the annual charity fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York City — has seen fashion that is outrageous yet artistic, strange yet sublime, and sometimes, quite simply bad, since its inception in 1946. The 2016 edition, held on Monday night, provided its fair share of jaw-dropping moments and was certainly one for the archives. Firstpost brings you the high points from this edition, which had “Fashion and Technology” as its theme: COUPLE CAPERS While most celebrities prefer to walk the Met Gala red carpet with the designer whose creation they have donned, this edition offered an opportunity for lots of real life couples to display their in-sync style. Among those setting #RelationshipGoals were Robert Pattinson and FKA Twigs, Anne Wojcicki (the ex-wife of Google founder Sergey Brin) and new boyfriend, the football star Alex Rodriguez (aka A-Rod) and Gigi Hadid with Zayn Malik as her knight in shining armour (we mean that literally — Malik’s costume was inspired by Mediaeval armour). And supermodel Kate Uptown may have walked the red carpet alone, but she did announce her engagement, which puts her in the “couples at the Met Gala category”. [caption id=“attachment_2762002” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Anne Wojcicki and Alex Rodriguez; Robert Pattinson with FKA Twigs[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_2762012” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Kate Upton; Gigi Hadid with Zayn Malik[/caption] THE EX FILES No awkward moments ensued, but there were a fair smattering of exes among the celebrity attendees. There was the grist-for-the-gossip mills appearance of Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Liberty Ross (the wife of director Rupert Sanders, who Stewart was believed to have cheated on Pattinson with) and of course, Nicole Kidman and Katie Holmes. [caption id=“attachment_2762018” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Kristen Stewart; Liberty Ross; Nicole Kidman; Katie Holmes[/caption] STYLE STATEMENTS Who outdid their previous appearances? Who flashed the most skin? What were the “prize-winning” looks? Demure — not! Beyonce’s previous appearances at the Met Gala have made it a point to put the pop queen’s curves on display. And this time was no different. Queen Bey chose to wear nude latex that covered her from neck to toe, but left very little to the imagination. We aren’t entirely sure of the colour of her Givenchy gown, or those tacky bead embellishments, but Bey did manage to look like a million bucks. Madonna was also swathed in black lace from the tips of her fingers to those of her toes. Her bottom and bosom however, were left bare, putting her assets on display. If all the usual suspects chose to cover up, Madge more than made up for it with her skin show. [caption id=“attachment_2762026” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Beyonce; Sarah Jessica Parker; Zoe Saldana; Madonna[/caption] Déjà vu Some looks from the Met Gala reminded us of — other looks. Sarah Jessica Parker — Captain Jack Sparrow: Her cream breeches and ruffled cuff-jacket combination was described as luxury pirate-wear. Last heard, Captain Jack Sparrow was desperately looking for the outfit, to use on his next onshore tavern-hopping spree. Zoe Saldana — Giselle of the Woods: You know that story of Giselle of the Woods, who needed a gown to meet a prince? And so she took a few leaves and flowers and trimmed an old gown with it so it would look all magical and charming? The train of Zoe Saldana’s sweeping Dolce and Gabbana reminded us of it. Or a peacock’s tail. You pick. [caption id=“attachment_2762036” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Lupita Nyong’o’s Grinch-inspired hairdo[/caption] Lupita Nyong’o — little girl from the Grinch film: The actress’ green evening gown was gorgeous — her strange hairdo, not so much. It reminded us of nothing more than the little girl in The Grinch Who Stole Christmas who did up her hair in the weirdest possible way. Dr Seuss would approve, we suppose. [caption id=“attachment_2762042” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Rita Ora could have enacted Swan Lake in that feathery gown[/caption] Rita Ora — someone from Swan Lake: Put the silvery-white feathers and swan-like construction together and you have a fairly evident comparison. [caption id=“attachment_2762046” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Claire Danes in her Cinderella-esque gown[/caption] Claire Danes — Cinderella: Dreamy, powder-blue ball gown, accessorised with a Prince Charming (husband Hugh Dancy in the actress’ case). Just that Claire didn’t need to rush from the ball at midnight — oh, and did we mention, it glowed in the dark? [caption id=“attachment_2762054” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  White walkers, meet Kanye West[/caption] Kanye West — White Walkers: The rapper chose to team his ripped jeans and embellished Balamain jacket with pale blue contact lenses. We rather liked the strangeness of it, given that it reminded us of the white walkers from our favourite TV series, Game of Thrones. Not their best look If an award was being given for most ridiculous accessory, Diane Von Furstenberg’s hair butterflies would get it. Was the designer trying to say her hair was a giant flower? With that nest-like do, we’d have been less surprised to see a flock of birds surrounding it — although that might have been a little too Hitchcock? [caption id=“attachment_2762062” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Solange Knowles, Sonam Kapoor’s infamous ‘Big Bird’ dress, Rihanna channels her inner egg yolk at the 2015 Met Gala[/caption] Solange Knowles seems to have a penchant for wearing yellow to the Met Gala. And it isn’t a choice that she’s traditionally had that much success with. This time round, Beyonce’s little sister chose a yellow confection type dress that wasn’t bad by itself — until you zoom into the strange yellow stockings (leg warmers?) she chose to pair it with. Incidentally, Solange is not alone in the getting-it-wrong-with-yellow-on-the-red-carpet club. Sonam Kapoor drew comparisons to Big Bird for her feathery, pale yellow Cannes outfit from last year, while Rihanna’s yellow robe from the 2015 Met Gala was described as an egg yolk being splattered on the red carpet. Perhaps Solange might have taken a tip from fellow Met Gala-attendee Aja Naomi King (of How To Get Away With Murder fame). Uncomfortable choices? Fashion can be a painful affair, and comfort is certainly not on the agenda when it comes to the costume choice for the Met Gala. So while Katy Perry joked she might need a diaper under her Prada outfit, Claire Danes was in earnest when she said that a separate bus was needed to transport the train of her gown. As for Lady Gaga, the Born This Way hitmaker had the unenviable task of walking the red carpet in a pair of shoes that were part boots-part stilts and part-torture device. [caption id=“attachment_2762068” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Lady Gaga, thinking about when she can kick off her shoes[/caption] Most unrecognisable Katy Perry’s make-up and hairdo had us taking another look to check if it was indeed the pop star we knew. Will.i.am, on the other hand, was tough to recognise simply because he chose to cover his face with a futuristic visor. Maybe he planned to do some welding during the after-party? [caption id=“attachment_2762066” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Katy Perry; Will.i.am[/caption] TREND-SPOTTING A fashion event demands that some space be devoted to outlining trends. So here’s our expert lowdown. The marriage of cutting edge tech with couture, combat boots (everyone from Michelle Williams to Jennifer Connelly and Selena Gomez were wearing these — much, we’re sure to their stiletto-wearing colleagues’ envy) and leather bras worn over dresses (Gomez, Alicia Vikander — take that, Superman!) ruled the red carpet. [caption id=“attachment_2762078” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Michelle Williams; Jennifer Connelly and Selena Gomez[/caption] There was also “tripletting”, which apparently is the new “twinning”. Jenna Lyons, Jenni Konner and Lena Dunham in matching tuxes and the girls from the band Haim, in Rodarte, kept the tripletting banner flying high at the Met Gala. [caption id=“attachment_2762084” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  The girls from Haim “tripletting” in Rodarte[/caption] And last, but not the least — the Kardashians single-handedly kept Balmain in business at the gala. Kim wore Balmain, hubby Kanye wore Balmain, Kylie wore Balmain. Kendall wore… Versace. Well, it was Balmain for the rest of the clan anyway. [caption id=“attachment_2762100” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Kendall Jenner; Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner[/caption]