Rihanna and Madonna reign over the blessed excess of this year's Met Gala

The world’s most expensive costume party was held in New York City last night, as musicians, actors, models, and assorted rich, skinny people gathered at the Metropolitan Museum Of Art by invitation of Anna Wintour and Vogue magazine for the annual Met Gala. This year, attendees placed their bets on Pope Francis’ recent declaration that hell isn’t real, in haute couture designed around a titillatingly sacrilegious theme: “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion And The Catholic Imagination.”(And yes, Piers Morgan is already upset about it.)

Madonna, who has been waiting for this since at least 1989, made the most of the opportunity with a performance of “Like A Prayer” backed by Gregorian monks:

But while that’s the amount of excess we’ve come to expect from Madonna, was she truly doing the absolute most of all the nuns, Goth nuns, angels, saints, witches, holy mothers, mothers of dragons, and Joan of Arc cosplayers on the red—floral, whatever—carpet? To be fair, Jared Leto has been waiting for the opportunity to dress like a Hunger Games version of Jesus for a while now too:

And while comparing anyone else to Rihanna, the unofficial patron saint (and now Pope) of the Met gala, is really kind of unfair:

Special dispensation goes to Solange, whose custom cape read “My God Wears a Durag”… :

…Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who wore a Joy Of Sex-inspired dress emblazoned with one of Catholicism’s least favorite things to a Catholicism-themed party (that’s a bonus Sarah Jessica Parker in the background)… :

…and to Frances McDormand for being the most Frances she can be, on the red carpet and at the afterparty. She’s seen here with Lena Waithe, whose rainbow cape addressed the homophobic elephant in the room:

Blake Lively had to rent a party bus for her dress because it wouldn’t fit in a regular limo, and that takes dedication:

And there’s 2 Chainz, who proposed to his longtime partner Kesha Ward on the same steps where Diddy memorably lounged at last year’s event:

Not to be outdone, Jaden Smith, who last year brought a handful of his own dreadlocks to the Met Gala, anticipated our objectophiliac future by bringing his gold record along as his date:

But this year’s award for best Met Gala stunt goes to Grimes, who lit up gossip blogs and car blogs alike by showing up with billionaire The Onion fan Elon Musk in mall-goth boots and a Tesla logo necklace:

And with the next first Sunday in May now 364 days away, we return you to your regularly scheduled, style-averse programming.