Stars don't wear McQueen at McQueen-themed Met Ball

(AFP PHOTO / TIMOTHY A. CLARY)

It is true that the chair of the annual Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute gala, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, always wears Chanel to the event. Wearing the label to the opening of a retrospective dedicated to the late Alexander McQueen, however, seemed controversial and set the tone for the rest of the star-studded ball.

In addition to fashion's most powerful woman, Chanel also dressed actresses Blake Lively - the new face of the brand who arrived with head designer Karl Lagerfeld - and Freida Pinto, as well as singer Janelle Monae, with the latter two opting for tuxedo-inspired styles.

The other go-to designer for the evening's A-listers was without a doubt Stella McCartney who was responsible for singer Rihanna's revealing lace dress, supermodel Iman's 1970s-inspired gold jumpsuit, singer Madonna's tight-fitting robe with star applications, and actresses Eva Mendes and Kate Hudson's floorsweeping gowns.

Some stars were bound to their own contracts when it came to choosing their outfits for the gala: actress Zoe Saldana arrived in cleanly cut yellow Calvin Klein, who she has been modeling for over the past seasons; and singer Jennifer Lopez - who recently starred with her children in Gucci's kids campaign - opted for a dramatic red cut-out gown by the Italian label.

But while some of the big appearances seemed to be inspired by McQueen's collections - Emilio Pucci's Peter Dundas took more than a hint from the designer to create singer Beyoncé's black-and-gold mermaid gown - there were only a few celebrities outside the world of fashion who opted to wear the label the event was paying homage to: actress Sarah Jessica Parker wore vintage McQueen, and her colleague Salma Hayek, whose husband Francois Henri-Pinault is the chairman of the PPR luxury group that owns the brand, walked the red carpet in a newer creation by McQueen's now-creative head Sarah Burton.

Apart from that, only the deceased designer's most die-hard fans, including socialite Daphne Guinness (who got dressed in a shop window prior to the ball), model Karen Elson, and Vogue stylist Anna dello Russo chose to wore his dresses to pay a last tribute. Thankfully, McQueen doesn't have to worry about a lack of publicity following last week's royal wedding.