NEW YORK - It's fashion's biggest night at the Met Gala.
The annual event returned to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 5, the first Monday in May. This year's Met ball, an invite-only event overflowing with A-list talent, celebrated the museum's Costume Institute and its spring exhibit, Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.
The exhibit - and the night's dress code, "Tailored for You" - highlighted Black dandyism and the midnight blue carpet was overflowing with Black excellence all night. With celebrity attendees including A$AP Rocky, Spike Lee, Janelle Monaé, Usher and more, the famed steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art were full of immaculate suiting, custom couture and inventive takes on tailoring. A focus on Black history and personal style was inherent in each ensemble, from Diana Ross' feathered 18-foot train to Rihanna's reveal of her baby bump.
USA TODAY had an exclusive spot on the red carpet, so follow along for all the top moments from the night:
Rihanna arrived to cheers and camera flashes at 10 p.m., close to an hour after the last attendees headed inside to the event. Though Mindy Kaling, Angel Reese and Megan Thee Stallion jetted out before her arrival, Rihanna's entrance was not to be missed.
She came with an important plus one: her just-announced pregnancy was on full display. Rihanna accentuated her baby bump with a voluminous pinstripe gown and a massive hat on top of her cascading braid.
A cropped suit jacket, detached collar and padded jacket attached at her waist was set off by polka dots in the form of an ascot and a pocket square. The wait, as usual for the fashionably late star, was absolutely worth it. She smelled sumptuous as she walked by, celebrating her Marc Jacobs look and her co-chair man, A$AP Rocky.
After co-hosting for hours, Taylor knows that her Met look is "looking," but it's not the same as when she first arrived on the carpet.
"I took off my jacket, my back hurt, babe. I've been standing up in that outfit all day. I'm just trying to get up in there, get the food, get to the bathroom - I've been holding my pee for the last three hours," she said. "Life is great," she added with a smile. "Life is great."
NFL star Stefon Diggs told USA TODAY about his Bianca Saunders look: a black suit with a light brown and cream fur coat on top. "We collaborated on a look. Black designer, very proud moment, trying to give her her flowers, she's done some great things," he said.
As for his inspiration for the look: "I actually was on Pinterest and was trying to find what works and saw a little bit of James Brown with the tailoring of this suit and then I went with some Teddy Pendergrass with the fur." The football player, known for his signature love of a cropped top, made sure his suit jacket was cropped as well.
Diggs, who started his own fashion brand Liem, knows the ups and downs of fashion. "It's still a lot of research and development. It's a lot of money going out. You have to take your lumps and it's a learning curve," he said of his fashion line.
Lizzo grabbed her phone at the top of the steps, pulling over to the side to film a TikTok video. "I'm making a TikTok, shh!" she said as she recorded video of the moment.
Pharrell, one of the co-chairs of the event, arrived as cool as ever in a pearl-encrusted suit jacket and sunglasses, with his wife rocking LV tights in support of her designer husband.
His jacket had 15,000 pearls and took 400 hours to create.
Diana Ross knows how to make a grand entrance. In an 18-foot-long train, the enduring diva stunned in a white feathered cape over a bejeweled gown.
She was flanked by her son Evan Ross, who helped her adjust her oversized feathered hat.
Debbie Allen told USA TODAY on the blue carpet that she was channeling a "night of elegance and Blackness and cultural identity."
When asked her ideal Black dandy, she didn't miss a beat and quickly said: "Norman Nixon," looking at her husband of over four decades. "You're looking at him."
Gigi Hadid, fresh off celebrating her 30th birthday and making her relationship with Bradley Cooper Instagram official, was gilded in gold with an old Hollywood updo.
Her gold gown was custom Miu Miu and celebrated icon Josephine Baker.
Lewis Hamilton breezed to the top of the Met steps, almost as quickly as he drives his race cars, in a cream-colored tuxedo and matching bow tie and hat, adorned with a golden brooch.
Colman Domingo arrived in a cape and later revealed a perfectly tailored suit underneath.
Domingo rounded out the early arrivals of the co-chairs in an expertly tailored, glittering black and silver suit jacket. Missing from the co-chair arrivals: A$AP Rocky and Rihanna. Perhaps they'll shut down the carpet again like they did in 2023?
The actor followed up the look with a more understated ‒ but equally fabulous ‒ ensemble featuring a pearl-embroidered blazer, polka-dotted handkerchief tie and floral brooch.
Earlier in the day, during a media preview for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute spring exhibit "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, Domingo remembered three men who shaped his sense of fashion: his brother, stepfather and biological father.
LaLa Anthony, one of the Vogue livestream hosts, is in archival Off-White by the late Virgil Abloh.
Black men's choir Silk and Sound officially opened the carpet with a beautiful performance of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." The choir wore tail coats and sounded silky smooth, of course.
Anna Wintour arrives shortly after in a pale blue coat atop a silk white gown with her signature blonde bob. The top Vogue editor has revolutionized the Met Gala since taking the helm in the '90s, making it one of the top events of the year.
Teyana Taylor is one of the early arrivals as a Vogue livestream host, donning a wine-colored, strong-shouldered cape atop a black suit, complete with a complementary durag, top hat, cane and gloves.
Alongside her, adjusting her look on the carpet, is Oscar-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter.
Emma Chamberlain might just break the internet with this dapper frock.
The social media personality stuns on the red carpet in a sleek pinstripe dress that mirrors the crisp tailoring of a menswear suit. The dress's halter collar and flowing train put a refreshingly feminine twist on the Black dandy theme.
Despite a rainy forecast for the first Monday in May, the stars are set to be out for one of the biggest events of the year.
The carpet this year is a shade of midnight blue, dotted with white and yellow Anemone Honorine Jobert flowers blooming amid greenery lining the famed Met steps. The usually bustling Fifth Avenue, typically crammed with onlookers from across the street, is quiet this year, potentially signaling a VVIP arrival at some point tonight.
The theme coincides with the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute's spring exhibit, Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, which the institute describes as a "cultural and historical examination of Black style over three hundred years through the concept of dandyism."
Inspired by Monica L. Miller's 2009 book, "Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity," the exhibit theme explores how the multicultural blend of African and European styles informed Black identity. Black dandyism became a practice in which Black people - and specifically Black men - used the power of personal style