Many of the hatless, crownless garments at the Met still evoked the theme in one way or another — for example, with capes that evoke vestments. But there were also a handful of gowns that suggest the wearer really just wanted to look great and not worry about stepping into a big pile of controversy. It’s hard to blame them. At different party, any one of those could have won the night, but it’s harder to stand out at the highly stylized Met; the bar is in a slightly different place. (By which I do not mean the one serving drinks, although I hope THAT one is somewhere convenient to access if you have a train.) And yes, I did get a little cranky at Louis Vuitton, but only for sending its entire gigantic posse without much thought to the theme and many of them in things that didn’t fit correctly or were deeply uninspired. (There was some question in the comments as to whether Michelle was also evoking Joan of Arc, but I just looked at that and thought, “It’s Michelle Williams, looking like Michelle Williams always does, in the same cut she always wears, and in a familiar metallic she loves.” Nothing WRONG with that, and I actually liked that dress, but some of the rest in there felt awfully pointless to put on display.)

Wow, what a rambling intro. I didn’t get enough sleep last night. TO THE GOWNS.

[Photos: WENN, Rex/Shutterstock]