Party Of The Week: You shall go to the Anna Wintour ball

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Benefit Gala was hosted by Vogue Editor-in-Chief, Anna Wintour and co-chaired by fashion designer Marc Jacobs.

It was swarming with A-listers including Madonna, Victoria Beckham and Bruce Willis, who all turned up in the rain on Monday night for the Big Apple's party of the year.

The annual black-tie dinner, to raise money for the Museum's Costume Institute, celebrated the opening of its new spring 2009 exhibition, The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion.

Tables for dinner cost from $75,000 to $250,000 and guests were entertained by Kanye West, introduced by U2's Bono. He sang three songs before performing a duet with Rihanna, who wore an overly dramatic tuxedo.

Some outfits were more bizarre than others – apparently there were more short dresses this year, giving the party a youthful feeling – but Madonna's blue-fabric headpiece certainly stuck out.

Guests including Stella McCartney, Kirsten Dunst, Rachel Weisz, Anne Hathaway and Kate Bosworth had a preview of the exhibition, before dinner at The Temple of Dendur, in The Sackler Wing.

They sat at zebra-upholstered banquettes, surrounded by fake palm trees. The décor was inspired by the Manhattan nightclub, El Morocco, a hangout of the rich and famous in the 1930s and 1950s.