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2019 Met Gala: Lady Gaga, Billy Porter Bring Camp To The Red Carpet

Lady Gaga
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Lady Gaga

Updated at 11:55 p.m. ET

The biggest night in fashion has arrived — and this year may well be a contender for the most playful, absurd and opulent red carpet in Met Gala history.

About 550 people were expected to attend this year's fundraiser, according to The New York Times. The theme is "Camp: Notes on Fashion," in part a nod to the 1964 essay by Susan Sontag.

Janelle Monae
Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images for The Met Museum
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Getty Images for The Met Museum
Janelle Monae

If you're unfamiliar with camp, think less about hiking boots and tentpoles (though, in fairness, showing up in that could be very camp) — and much more about Lady Gaga having three outfit reveals on the pink carpet, while wheeling around a pink champagne wagon.

Or actor Billy Porter, donning a golden catsuit, being carried out on a gold-trimmed litter by six shirtless men wearing golden pants. And then casually revealing that his catsuit also has 10-foot golden wings.

Along with Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour, co-chairs of the event include Lady Gaga, tennis star Serena Williams, singer Harry Styles and Gucci's Alessandro Michele.

Kacey Musgraves
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Kacey Musgraves

Here are some highlights from the pink carpet at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art — gifted to us by celebrities who very much understood the assignment.

Among those ranks: Country-pop star Kacey Musgraves came as a life-size Barbie-meets-Elle-Woods. Zendaya, wearing a light-up Cinderella-esque dress, intentionally left a slipper on the staircase.

And rapper Cardi B turned it out in a down dress that reportedly took 35 people over 2,000 hours to make, according to Vogue.

Come for the fashion. Stay for the think pieces and Twitter wars over how to quantify campiness.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Cardi B
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Cardi B
Laverne Cox
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Laverne Cox
Katy Perry
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Katy Perry
Lupita Nyong'o
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Lupita Nyong'o
Law Roach and Zendaya
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Law Roach and Zendaya
Ezra Miller
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AFP/Getty Images
Ezra Miller

Dani Nett (she/they) has been an audience engagement editor on NPR's Newshub since 2017. She manages the network's flagship Facebook and Twitter accounts; develops strategy; and helms NPR's digital platforms through historic moments — from racial justice protests to wars and presidential impeachments.