Film, fringes and fake nipples: The five best Met Gala looks

When Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, Beyoncé and Nicole Kidman fail to crack the top five best dressed list in impressive outfits, it’s clear that this year’s Met Gala was a sartorial success.

Just as surprising is that Kylie Jenner is in the top five, part of a new breed making their mark with this year’s dress code Fashion Is Art.

Best Australian: Margot Robbie

The Barbie star looked every inch a golden girl in a strapless Chanel gold lamé gown. On first appearance, artistic allusions were absent but from behind – the artistry of 1100 embroidered details that took the Parisian atelier 761 hours to make, clearly met the evening’s brief.

It was a welcome departure from the gothic romantic looks worn by Robbie on the press tour for Wuthering Heights.

This was Chanel artistic director Matthieu Blazy’s Met Gala debut, and he made a strong impression, also dressing Nicole Kidman in a red sequinned gown with a red feathered peplum adding a touch of Moulin Rouge.

Kidman attended with her model daughter Sunday Rose. It’s good to have a mother co-chairing the event with organisers waiving their over-18 rule, with the 17-year-old and Beyoncé’s 14-year-old daughter Blue Ivy Carter making themselves at home on the red carpet.

Best Kardashian: Kylie Jenner

Beauty entrepreneur Kylie Jenner stole the best dressed crown from sisters Kim Kardashian and Kendall Jenner and close friend Hailey Bieber, who appeared to have coordinated their looks to showcase the female form in sculpture.

While Kim’s leather leotard had the expected impact, it was Kylie’s Schiaparelli haute couture gown with a nude illusion corset and cascading embellished skirt that combined drama and deconstructed elegance.

Like Kim’s leotard, Kendall’s undergarments, showing through a draped custom dress from Gap Studio, and Bieber’s gold Saint Laurent body armour, both featured prominent nipple details, which along with borrowed jewellery were the evening’s must-have accessory.

Best singer: Sabrina Carpenter

It has been seven years since the Met Gala’s camp theme, but singer Sabrina Carpenter embodies exaggeration and artifice every time she hits the red carpet.

Carpenter turned to Jonathan Anderson at Christian Dior to bring the art of cinema to life with a dress constructed from rhinestone filmstrips layered over a tulle dress.

Fittingly, the filmstrips were from the movie Sabrina, starring Audrey Hepburn and William Holden.

There was a touch of the flapper about the silhouette, with Carpenter tapping into the 1920s and 1930s mood of many Met Gala outfits.

While Carpenter turned to Hepburn, Beyoncé returned to the event after a 10-year absence in a custom Olivier Rousteing gown that was more Mae West. The x-ray dress featured embellished skeletal details and a feathered train that would have to stop at all stations on the way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Best actress: Teyana Taylor

Oscar nominee Teyana Taylor continued her commitment to groundbreaking red carpet dressing after ruling the awards season, following her acclaimed performance in One Battle After Another.

While Blake Lively stuck to the tried and true formula of Versace gowns, this time choosing a pastel vintage dress from 2006, and Anne Hathaway chose Michael Kors over Prada, Taylor wisely honed in on Tom Ford.

Her fringed dress with silver sequins was poetry in motion, with just a touch of The Addams Family character Cousin It – but sexy.

Best themed outfit: Claire Foy

If you have to explain your outfit at the Met Gala, you’ve missed the mark, which is why The Crown actress Claire Foy ruled the red carpet.

The actress was immediately recognisable as the subject of painter John Singer Sargent’s scandalous painting Portrait of Madam X from 1884.

The depiction of socialite Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau with her dress straps falling down was too provocative for its original audience with Sargent repainting the straps.

British designer Erdem Moralıoğlu took the original approach with slipping jewelled straps on the shoulder of the black satin dress. An embellished coat from Barbour added a layer of contemporary cool.

Sargent sold the painting to The Met in 1916. “I suppose it is the best thing I have ever done,” Sargent said. The same can be said of Erdem.

The Schiaparelli gown worn by Lauren Sanchez Bezos, an honorary chair of the event alongside billionaire husband and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, also made reference to Sargent’s historical painting. The hourglass proportions and former newsreader’s blow dry placed her look firmly in 2026.

All the looks from the Met Gala red carpet