Jennifer Hudson in AZ Company

Seriously, I want to see THIS in the famed lily pond.

I also enjoy that in the staircase shot, you can see her wrap wrangler waiting patiently up the stairs. Also, yes, your eyes do NOT deceive you...

... it DOES appear that her zipper is actually on some kind of chain loop?!? I appreciate an effort to make exposed zippers artful, but it seems MUCH more likely to catch on something.

Isabelle Huppert in Balenciaga

This is startlingly similar. It's from the most recent Balenciaga collection. Balenciaga dressed a fair few people on this night and does not seem to have done much custom work.

Venus Williams in Prabal Gurung

She is glowing, though I wonder if that does need a hoik.

Eiza Gonzalez in Versace

That's gorgeous, and I just realized she looks a lot like Olivia Rodrigo. I kind of wish Olivia had worn this.

Addison Rae in vintage Gucci from 2003

Props to Addison for going vintage -- yes, it's Gucci, but it's the Tom Ford era, so count it as one for American fashion. (Again, not being jingoistic; it's the theme.) I don't LOVE it but it's growing on me.

Karlie Kloss in Carolina Herrera

If my calculations are correct, this was the only Carolina Herrera of the night -- at least on someone we recognize. That seems egregious. IMAGINE all the glorious archival stuff that could have come out to play. This is very well-crafted, and the kind of dress you really NEED a professional model to pull off, because she has to know how to pose around it.

Costume Institute Benefit celebrating the opening of In America: A Lexicon of Fashion, Arrivals, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA - 13 Sep 2021

I don't like every aspect of it, but somehow I also love it? The sheer theatricality of it all.

That ruffle also manages to perfectly frame her...

... AND evoke the shape of her eyebrows?!? That is SCIENCE. A+ neck business.

Emily Ratajkowski in Vera Wang

Emily, meanwhile, got the sad JV version of Neck Business.

And she seemed to struggle to model through it.

Now she looks like she's trying to lean the hell out of it.

I don't even know what this pose is. But I am not sure she and the dress were a great marriage.

Megan Fox in Dundas

She looks evil and fabulous. SHE is going to be the one to push Jennifer Hudson into the lily pond, assuming she has not first begun slowly poisoning her.

Finneas O'Connell

And he will DEMAND she pay the rent, by which I mean, he's going to blackmail her for her crimes or else kidnap her and take her to some weird catacombs he found on a deserted island.

Tessa Thompson in Iris Van Herpen

She maybe could have gone in the sheers slideshow, but whatever. Choices were made. The first time I saw this, she did not have on the hat, so when I caught the full look I audibly chuckled. She's like a cranberry at the rodeo.

Tyler Mitchell in Bode

Tyler is the photographer Beyonce chose to shoot her Vogue cover back in 2018. A suit jacket that evokes a baseball uniform does the job.

Rosalia in Rick Owens

Rosalia said this is based on a traditional Spanish garment, which... for the theme, is it... supposed to be Americanized or something? Rick Owens is a WHOLE LOT more than most people can chew. I am not sure her teeth are up to it. WOW, what a metaphor -- clunky just like parts of this outfit.

It's... better from the side? (We've seen those boots in black on Billy Porter, if they look familiar.) The fringe gives it a bit of a Western movie feel so maybe that's the mix -- the American West with her Spanish roots.

Maluma in Versace

THIS Western flair is a lot more on-the-nose.

Met Gala 2021: So Many Big Red Gowns, Including an Alber Elbaz Tribute

Well, shoot, now I have that old gum jingle in my head.