There are many, many things I love about the Met Gala. The brash pomp and theatre of it. The Olsens (crushingly, not in attendance this year). The post-match social media analysis, always a reliable source of some very astute, very funny memes. The fact that it’s held on a Monday night, which I find deeply, inexplicably hilarious (I guess the sales of Diet Coke and Advil soar in New York on the first Tuesday in May). The fact that I can enjoy all of this from my premium position, i.e. lying flat on my bed in a bobbled cashmere tracksuit, 3500 miles away.

But my absolute favourite thing about the Met Gala is seeing how the A-list tackle the theme. There are, apparently, two options when it comes to the dresscode: either a very literal adherence to it, or a completely missed-the-memo ignoring of it, with barely anything in between. I’m here for both; the “mistakes” (quotation marks, very much necessary) are as much part of the fun as the “triumphs”.

The Met Gala is Big Event Fashion at its most competitive, the guests peak performance red-carpet athletes competing not just with each other (for headlines) but with themselves (to go bigger, bolder, better than their last appearance). This is about clothes as fantasy, as entertainment, as performance. It’s about starkly, boldly making an effort.

Nobody gets that as much as Kim Kardashian who has tackled each Met with impressive gusto and grit since she first attended in 2013. Having grafted to get an invite in the first place – and graduated from Costume Institute curioisity (a reality TV star let loose among the bona fide A-list) to belle of the ball – once she made it onto those steps, she was going to show up Every Single Time. So she topped 2019’s wet-look Thierry Mugler – and its corset so tight it required breathing lessons – with 2021’s viral Balenciaga mask-gown, with last night’s ‘Happy Birthday Mr. President’ dress, previously worn by Marilyn Monroe in 1962. You don’t need embark on a strict diet like she did, or even go out on Monday night, to salute her dedication. She knows what the Met is really about: making an effort matters and showing up counts.

Laura