Actress Blake Lively paid tribute to New York City as a parade of stars celebrated American fashion and Gilded Age glamour at the annual Met Gala, a party celebrating the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York. Known for celebrities in over-the-top outfits, the so-called Oscars of the East Coast returned on its traditional date of the first Monday in May, just eight months after 2021’s pandemic-delayed event in September . This year’s A-list guests were told to dress in “gilded glamour” for the annual fundraiser for the museum. The Gilded Age was a period in the late 1800s of – for some – huge wealth in the United States. Lively, a Met Gala co-chair along with her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds , arrived in a glittering bronze-coloured Versace dress influenced by New York’s Grand Central Terminal, the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building. The invitation-only Met Gala marks the opening of the annual fashion exhibition at the museum’s Costume Institute. This year’s exhibit, “In America: An Anthology of Fashion”, caps a two-part exhibition and focuses on the history of American dress. Former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she was attending for the first time in 20 years to celebrate the fashion and spirit of America. Her burgundy gown featured subtle embroidery of the names of 60 famous American women including abolitionist Harriet Tubman and Madeleine Albright , the late secretary of state. Hillary Clinton in Altuzarra. Squid Game actress Jung Ho-yeon in Louis Vuitton. Actress Michelle Yeoh in Prabal Gurung. US actress Sarah Jessica Parker in Christopher John Rogers. Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner, both in Louis Vuitton . Model Kaia Gerber in Alexander McQueen. Singer Shawn Mendes in Tommy Hilfiger. Marvel actor Sebastian Stan in Valentino. Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan in Richard Quinn. Singer Billie Eilish in Gucci. Marvel actress Gemma Chan in Louis Vuitton. Emma Stone in a Louis Vuitton dress that she previously wore at her wedding after-party. Newly married couple Nicola Peltz, in Valentino, and Brooklyn Beckham. Hailey Bieber in Saint Laurent. Gigi Hadid in Versace. Gucci’s Alessandro Michele twinning with Jared Leto, in Gucci . Dakota Johnson in Gucci. Kim Kardashian , in a dress originally worn in the ’60s by Marilyn Monroe, with Pete Davidson. Kylie Jenner in Off-White. Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker in Thom Browne. Khloe Kardashian in Moschino. Tesla founder and soon-to-be Twitter owner Elon Musk and his mother, Maye Musk, in Dior. Kendall Jenner in Prada.