Kim Kardashian arrived at the 2023 Met Gala literally dripping in pearls, drawing an uncanny resemblance to the “look” she wore during her 2007 Playboy cover photo shoot.

“This year I just wanted to feel glamorous. I really didn’t feel the pressure,” Kardashian told Vogue on the red carpet, adding that her eldest daughter, North West, was in the car watching her family walk the red carpet.

In a separate interview with her younger sisters Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Kardashian said it was an “emotional” night celebrating Lagerfeld, who she noted did her first-ever fashion shoot.

“I owe a lot to him and what he did for me,” Kendall added. “I started working with him when I was really young and really new.”

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2. Serena Williams and Karlie Kloss revealed their pregnancies

Move over Instagram (or Snapchat) – the Met Gala was the place to announce pregnancies Monday night, at least if you’re Serena Williams or Karlie Kloss.

The tennis legend and supermodel each revealed their pregnancies in interviews on the Met Gala’s not-so-red carpet. Williams’ announcement had particular poignancy given that she stepped away from tennis last year, saying she had to in order to have a second child.

“Believe me,” the 23-time Grand Slam champion wrote in an August essay for Vogue magazine, “I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family. I don’t think it’s fair. If I were a guy I wouldn’t be writing this because I’d be out there playing and winning while my wife was doing the physical labour of expanding our family.”

Williams was also afforded more agency in announcing her pregnancy this time, sharing the news alongside her husband Alexis Ohanian in an interview with Vogue livestream host La La Anthony.

Kloss, 30, sporting black hair, shared her pregnancy earlier in the night in an interview with another Vogue livestream host, Emma Chamberlain, prompting squeals of delight and an offer to babysit from the influencer.

3. Jared Leto and Doja Cat got catty

An enormous fluffy, white, blue-eyed Burmese cat mascot ascended the Metropolitan Museum of Art steps on Monday in homage to Lagerfeld’s beloved pet Choupette who later revealed himself as actor Jared Leto, bringing a whole new meaning to this year’s Met Gala dress code “in honour of Karl”.

In another homage to the famous feline, American rapper and singer Doja Cat wore a prosthetic cat nose and a hooded Oscar de la Renta gown fitted with cat ears.

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4. Rihanna showed up late

It wouldn’t be the Met Gala without a fashionably late appearance by Rihanna.

As RiRi walked up the iconic Met steps, she wore the jacket around her shoulders and revealed she was wearing an elegant white, spaghetti-strap gown underneath.

The Fendi gown showed off Rihanna’s baby bump – which she first revealed while performing at the Super Bowl in February – and had a long, flowing train.

5. Basketball star Brittney Griner made a shock appearance

American basketball star Brittney Griner stepped onto the red carpet at the star-studded Met Gala on Monday, embracing a larger spotlight months after returning home from detention in a Russian penal colony.

The twice Olympic champion has pledged to advocate for the release of other Americans detained abroad after she was freed from Russia in a high-profile prisoner exchange after nearly 10 months of detention.

US officials said she was wrongly detained and was being used as a political pawn after she was taken into custody at a Moscow airport and subsequently convicted on drug charges. “I was able to come home,” Griner told Vogue at the gala. “A lot of families that don’t get the availability, you know, that I have with media so every day just being there, being a voice for those families so they’re not feeling left behind or forgotten at all.”

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Griner sat for a press conference with her Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) team last week for the first time since she returned home, announcing she and the Phoenix Mercury would partner with Bring Our Families Home to champion the cause.

6. A cockroach had a fashion moment at the Met Gala

Certain celebrities might find it impossible to secure invitations to the Met Gala, but one cockroach got in with ease.

A lone New York City cockroach scurried up the steps of the Met while being filmed and photographed by curious onlookers. The insect darted from side to side across the carpet, expertly navigating its way up the steps.

At one point, the couture roach paused at the top of a step as if working its angles for the paparazzi.

To some pundits, the roach’s all-black look might’ve been a safe take on the Met Gala’s Lagerfeld-inspired theme, but sporting six rather than two legs on the red carpet is a bold, Kafkaesque choice.

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Who was missing off the guest list?

The guest list handed out to reporters was more than seven pages long, but there were some big names missing. The mononymous show-stoppers from previous years like Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Zendaya were all absent.

Blake Lively already revealed she wouldn’t make it this year. Lively’s good friend Taylor Swift also wasn’t on the list. Her Eras Tour is in full swing and she played in Atlanta on Sunday and will be performing in Nashville on Friday.