Katy Perry in Prada

Katy made me laugh when she said to someone -- I read it and can't find it now, of course -- that she was planning something big but fully expected to be upstaged by, say, Lady Gaga arriving on a drone. (Spoiler: That didn't happen, and I think Katy won.) But what I like about this is, Katy's been doing the bombshell bit a LOT lately, with huge hair and tumbling cleavage, and this completely turns the page on that, even for a moment. Whatever style script she was writing, she put down in favor of maximum impact, and it worked. And she COMMITTED to it. This isn't even necessarily that flattering -- it's not like one of those ostensibly good Halloween costumes that chiefly serves to make the wearer look cute -- which is why I respect it all the more.

Katy Perry

I do feel like a couple people interpreted this theme as, "No eyebrows required."

Katy Perry

I assume Derek Blasberg back there is thinking, "We will still be here, trying to climb these stairs, in four hours."

Met Gala Well Played: Katy Perry in Prada

This is obviously crazy, and I lack the ability to parse its "Manus x Machina" meaning as fully as I would like, aside from... she's wearing keys, there's glamdroid vibe about this, and presumably some poor couture workers' manuses are really tired from sewing the beading. (They really, really ought to hand out pamphlets with every outfit.) But I do know this: She DELIVERED, and I desperately wish Sarah Jessica Parker had been the one to bring this particular thunder. Wig and all. [Photos: Getty]