Fashion icons and A-listers descended upon New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art Monday night for the hotly anticipated Met Gala, the annual fundraiser put on for the benefit of the museum’s Costume Institute. Co-chaired by Anna Wintour, Amal Clooney, Donatella Versace and Rihanna, this year’s theme was Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination, and the world’s best fashion designers rose to the occasion magnificently.
The religious iconography doesn’t end when the crimson and creme carpet is rolled up, either. The exhibit that corresponds with the Gala opens on May 10, and the New York Times reports that it’s the biggest the Costume Institute has ever held. It took years of negotiations and working alongside the Vatican to eventually procure more than 40 items to include in the exhibit, some of which are precious and priceless, like a papal tiara with 19,000 precious stones — 18,000 of which are diamonds.
There is one question that hangs over the entire theme of the exhibit: Is it blasphemous? Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the minister of culture for the Vatican, told the New York Times that fashion has biblical origins (“It was God who dressed us. God was the tailor in Genesis”), and if anyone is offended, it proves Christian symbols “still touch a nerve.”
“They aren’t using the symbols of the Roman Empire,” he told the Times.
Take a look at some of the incredible designs below.
Amal Clooney in Richard Quinn
Amal and George Clooney at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 7, 2018, in New York City. (Getty)
Taylor Hill
Kim Kardashian West in Versace
Kim Kardashian West attends “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & the Catholic Imagination,” the 2018 Costume Institute Benefit at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 7, 2018, in New York City. (Taylor Hill/Getty Images)
Jennifer Lopez in Balmain
Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez at the 2018 Met Gala (Getty)
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Sarah Jessica Parker in Dolce & Gabbana
Sarah Jessica Parker attends Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination Costume Institute Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 7, 2018, in New York City. (John Lamparski/Getty Images)
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Priyanka Chopra in Ralph Lauren
Priyanka Chopra attends the Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination Costume Institute Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 7, 2018, in New York City. (Dimitrios Kambouris/MG18/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
Dimitrios Kambouris/MG18
Ariana Grande in Vera Wang
Ariana Grande attends the Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 7, 2018, in New York City. (George Pimentel/Getty Images)
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Chadwick Boseman in Versace
Chadwick Boseman attends the Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination Costume Institute Gala at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 7, 2018, in New York City. (George Pimentel/Getty Images)
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Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen in Versace
Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen attend “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & the Catholic Imagination,” the 2018 Costume Institute Benefit at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 7, 2018, in New York City. (Taylor Hill/Getty Images)
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Blake Lively in Versace
NEW YORK, NY – MAY 07: Blake Lively attends “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & the Catholic Imagination,” the 2018 Costume Institute Benefit at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 7, 2018, in New York City. (Taylor Hill/Getty Images)
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Rihanna in Martin Margiela
NEW YORK, NY – MAY 07: Rihanna attends the Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination Costume Institute Gala at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 7, 2018, in New York City. (George Pimentel/Getty Images)
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Gigi Hadid in Versace
NEW YORK, NY – MAY 07: Gigi Hadid attends the Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination Costume Institute Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 7, 2018, in New York City. (Dimitrios Kambouris/MG18/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
Dimitrios Kambouris/MG18
Katy Perry in Versace
NEW YORK, NY – MAY 07: Katy Perry attends Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination Costume Institute Gala at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 7, 2018, in New York City. (Steven Ferdman/Getty Images)
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Madonna in Jean Paul Gaultier
Madonna attends the Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination Costume Institute Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art at on May 7, 2018, in New York City. (Raymond Hall/GC Images)
GC Images
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