New York (AFP)

Four hundred actors, actresses, musicians, models, sportswomen or stars of social networks in increasingly extravagant outfits hurried Monday evening to the gala of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met), the unmissable ultra-social event of all- New York, after two and a half years of absence due to the pandemic.

Almost no one was masked, but to strut the cream-colored carpet, to show up at one of the most popular parties on the planet, you still had to be vaccinated or test negative.

Sharon Stone, Justin Bieber, Venus Williams, Gigi Hadid, Diane Kruger, Erykah Badu, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna Kendall Jenner, Taylor Hill, Hailey Rhode Baldwin, Kid Cudi, Frank Ocean and even ... Isabelle Huppert: Monday night, in the heart in Manhattan, the Met hadn't seen so many global stars since May 2019.

Among the most noticed stars, the star of the reality show Kim Kardashian arrived completely covered in black, face included, in an outfit with an enigmatic and chilling air.

"It's unreal!"

exclaimed American rapper Megan Thee Stallion, while finding it "a little strange" to be with so many "peoples" on the most select evening of the city-world which is just recovering from the pandemic.

Reality star Kim Kardashian at the Metropolitan Museum of Art gala on September 13, 2021 Angela WEISS AFP

In an incredible yellow dress cut by Valentino, the American singer and dancer Normani, very moved in front of the forest of microphones and cameras, felt like a "princess, a black queen".

Tennis player Serena Williams upon arrival at the Met Gala on September 13, 2021 in New York ANGELA WEISS AFP

The Met Gala is a charity event held annually for the benefit of the Costume Institute, a museum entity dedicated to fashion, which has its own budget and is financially independent from the Met.

Created in 1948, the gala was for a long time an event reserved for the very high and very wealthy New York society, the main source of patronage for the Met.

It gradually opened up from the 1970s, before transforming itself after the arrival at its head of the high priestess of fashion and editor-in-chief of Vogue, Anna Wintour, in 1995.

She propelled it into the galaxy of celebrity events, adapted to the era of social networks and the democratization of fashion, to the point where it is sometimes compared to the Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles.

The event also offers the opportunity to assert one's gender identity or political views.

High-profile homosexual activist football champion Megan Rapinoe has misappropriated the US national motto "In God We Trust" into "In Gay We Trust".

Left wing Democratic Party figure Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at Met Gala in New York Mike Coppola GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, figure of the left wing of the Democratic Party, posted "Tax the Rich", a slogan very "class struggle" in the middle of the fortunes of Manhattan.

The 2020 edition of the gala had been canceled as New York was suffocated by the coronavirus epidemic.

That of this year, which is usually held on the first Monday in May, has been postponed to this Monday evening, before a 2022 edition scheduled for the beginning of May.

Perhaps with some 1,200 guests, as before the pandemic.

Under the co-chairmanship of Anna Wintour, fashion designer Tom Ford and Instagram boss Adam Mosseri, singer Billie Eilish, actor Timothée Chalamet, poet Amanda Gorman and tenniswoman Naomi Osaka are co-chairing the gala this year, under the sign of youth, "Generation Z".

The Met Gala, the occasion for great fashion designers to dress the stars, also marks the opening of the Costume Institute's annual exhibition.

American rapper Saweetie, September 13, 2021 at the Met Gala ANGELA WEISS AFP

This year, the museum has chosen to organize an exhibition in two parts, the first from Saturday, September 18 to September 2022 and the second starting in May 2022.

The first part, entitled "In America: A Lexicon of Fashion" will celebrate 75 years of Costume. The second part will be entitled "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" ("In America: An Anthology of Fashion "). He will focus on" the development of American fashion ".

© 2021 AFP