Fashion’s biggest night made a comeback with the familiar flashing lights and sprawling staircase filled with celebrities. That is right, folks. The Met Gala is back.

Monday, Sept. 13, the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened its doors to fashion’s é names. Since 1948, the Met Gala marks the opening of the museum’s Costume Institute’s annual exhibits. The event is a fundraiser for the exhibit while simultaneously plugging high-fashion trends.

Artists, celebrities and politicians are invited to the exclusive event, and the guest list revolves around who is making waves in popular culture that year.

Each year, the Met Gala announces its celebrity hosts and its extravagant theme. This year, the co-chair hosts were actor Timothée Chalamet, singer Billie Eilish, poet Amanda Gorman and tennis superstar Naomi Osaka.

Vogue and its editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, have presided over the event since 1995.

The theme of this year’s Met Gala was “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.” The second part of the exhibit will be unveiled in May, and its theme is “In America: An Anthology of Fashion.”

This year’s guest list was shorter than usual due to COVID-19 precautions, and tickets to the event cost $30,000, reports Vogue UK.

So, what did the Iowa State Daily lifestyle reporter think of the 2021 Met Gala? Let’s find out.

Taylor Maerz says the Met Gala is one of her favorite nights of the year and loves to judge the looks, “like her opinions matter.” Her favorite Met Gala look in history is Naomi Campbell’s 1995 Versace gown.

Maerz said that her favorite look of the night was Kate Hudson’s Micheal Kors gown, “I think that the simplicity of it was so beautiful and the addition of the pink feather coat was the perfect amount of detail. I would totally wear this dress.”

She did, however, have a least favorite look of the night. “Camila Cabello. I hated her look. It looked exactly like a dance costume I wore for a tap routine when I was three.”

Maerz noted that actress Lili Reinhart had a look that emphasized the gala’s theme with her flower gown composed of all of the US state flowers, designed by Christain Siriano.

Next up is reporter Avery Thompson. Her favorite look was Lil Nas X’s trifecta of golden garments.

“I wouldn’t say she had the worst look, but Addison Rae gave us nothing,” Thompson said. “You would think that with this being her first time going and people not wanting her there, she would pull out all the stops.”

Thompson admitted that this year’s Met Gala just did not add up to other years, in her opinion. “This was probably my least favorite year for the Met Gala. I was hoping that with COVID-19 making last year’s event not happen that we would get something amazing. Sadly, that definitely wasn’t the case.”

Reporter Bethany Schleisman shared her thoughts on the night, as well. Schleisman said that she was impressed with the theme, “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” and thought it embraced American culture well. But, her favorite theme of all time is the 2018 “Heavenly Bodies” theme.

Schleisman thought that soccer player Megan Rapinoe’s Sergio Hudson pantsuit exemplified the theme of the night well.

As for Scheisman’s favorite look of the night? “My favorite look of the night was Kendall Jenner. I feel that her dress was very elegant yet spoke to the theme with the beaded stars on her dress.”

Whether the Met Gala blew your mind this year, or you are still reminiscing about past themes (ahem, Heavenly Bodies), it is and always will be paramount in high fashion circles.