A Cardinal, Donatella Versace and Rihanna dressed as the Pope walk into a bar???The punchline is that, oddly, this is a real life scenario happening at a real bar at the Met Gala tonight.

The opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art???s blockbuster new fashion exhibition, Heavenly Bodies; Fashion and The Catholic Imagination, was always going to encourage an eclectic mix of attendees.There are religious figures like Cardinal Timothy Michael Dolan mingling with Hollywood actors like George Clooney, fashion designers like Versace with pop stars like Rita Ora.

The showcase???s theme, fashion and Catholicism, has in turn prompted the dress code for the corresponding red carpet parade, and so here we are, analysing why the pop star Ariana Grande is wearing Michelangelo???s Last Judgment, or quite how we should digest images of Rihanna???s crystal encrusted ???sexy pope??? outfit, by John Galliano for Maison Margiela, topped off with a miter by British milliner Stephen Jones.

There were several contenders for the honour of the night???s most outrageously dressed (let???s not kid ourselves, that is the point of the entire exercise)andthere was plenty of potential for creativity within this theme, but also plenty of opportunities to take things too far.Judging byinitial reactions, it seems that no one has caused great offence just yet - in fact it is those who chose to play safe, and not embrace the opportunity to "Pope up" wholeheartedly, who are receiving the most criticism on social media.

Supermodel Cara Delevingne wore an interpretation of a black lace mantilla, while actress Kate Bosworth exercised le privil??ge du blanc in Oscar de la Renta.Actor Jared Leto went ???as Jesus??? and actress Sarah Jessica Parker wore gilded Dolce and Gabbana, carrying an altar-sized ceramic on her head.

Katy Perry pushed the dress code to its limits, clad as the Angel Gabriel in a Versace chainmail mini dress and feathered wings spanning six feet, and offeringan outstanding display of opulence that can only have pleased fans of the decadent workmanship associated with Catholic vestments.If nothing else, she was entirely on theme.

As costume parties go, this was probably the most expensive ever held.Most guests are wearing something that has been custom made for them for the occasion, and most have commissioned names from big design houses to help them come up with something original.So why not go all out?

Met Gala 2018:Amal Clooney and Anna Wintour lead the best dressed

The Met Gala is a once-a-year opportunity to have fun, get dressed up, and showcase the workmanshipthat the best designers in the world have to offer.It"s a spectacle, for sure, but also a celebration of creativity.

Rihanna, or ???The Young Pope??? as Twitter has now crowned her, has won theunofficialbest dressed guest nod from hosts at Voguefor perhaps the fourth year in a row.???She continues to inspire the fashion faithful,??? the magazine"s editors declared.And with that, her work here is done for another year.