7 Outfit Details You Missed From Celebrities' Spectacular Met Gala Looks

With all the excitement of yesterday's Met Gala red carpet arrivals and so many show-stopping looks to feast your eyes on, we wouldn't blame you for missing out on some of the finer details from the night.

For as we have learnt from all the Met Galas over the years, there is always more to the stars' outfits than initially meets the eye – so here, we delve into the hidden details and subtle references from last night's outfits, to help you appreciate them even more.

As one of the co-hosts of this year's Met Gala, the pressure was on for Blake Lively to deliver an extra special red carpet look – and she nailed it.

Not only did Lively treat fans to an Atelier Versace gown that 'unwrapped' to transform from rose gold to aqua blue before their very eyes, but the look also featured some important hidden details.

Explaining the inspiration behind her 2022 Met Gala look, Blake Lively told The Cut: 'Instead of looking to fashion to influence the dress, I looked to New York City architecture and classic buildings.'

The train of her dress was designed to represent the constellation of Grand Central station; her bodice was inspired by the Empire State Building, and the colour-changing skirt by the Statue of Liberty. Her diamond-encrusted Lorraine Schwartz crown was also an homage to the city: it had seven tiers to reflect the Statue of Liberty's seven rays, and 25 stones just like its 25 windows.

From the front, New York City mayor Eric Adams may have looked his usual dapper self – albeit a bit 'jazzier' than usual, with patterned lapels and cuffs. But upon closer inspection, Adams' jacket was illustrated with references to his beloved city, including an apple, the Empire State Building and the Brooklyn Bridge.

And on the back the message was even clearer: his jacket was emblazoned with the message 'End Gun Violence' in bright red and a no-guns symbol – a clear reference to the recent Brooklyn subway shooting. Ahead of the Gala, Adams' office confirmed his attendance to the New York Times, stating: ‘While he will celebrate American fashion, he also recognises the fraught history of the Gilded Age.’

Make no mistake, it's a major serve in itself, but the look is even more memorable when you dive deeper. Rogers and Parker were inspired by Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley, an enslaved women who later became the official dressmaker of Mary Todd Lincoln, and the first Black female fashion designer in the White House. 'The idea was to highlight the dichotomy between the extravagant, over-the-top proportions of the time period, and the disparity that was happening in America at the time,' Rogers explained to Vogue.

British-Pakistani actor and musician Riz Ahmed's look was very understated and casual for one of the glitziest nights of the year – particularly given the 'Gilded Glamour' theme. But that was exactly the point.

In a red carpet interview, Ahmed said his look was 'an homage to the immigrant workers who kept the Gilded Age going,' featuring a navy jacket made by immigrant-founded 4S Designs.

His stylist Julie Ragolia told Vanity Fair: 'In thinking about the Met Gala theme of "Gilded Glamour," I wanted to focus on the people without whom nothing Gilded would exist: the labourers, the workers, the unseen. This look is for everyone who thinks they don’t have a voice. They do.'

The singer's spectacularly gilded gown was custom-made for the event by Atelier Versace, and the Italian fashion house estimated that a full kilometre of gold metal chains was used to make the piece.

There were 20 different artisans and craftspeople involved in its creation, too, spending over 1,300 hours on embroidery alone. Was it worth it? We think so.

The American actor said she felt 'a little emotional' while discussing the meaning behind her Met Gala look, during a red carpet interview.

Her silver Versace gown took months to create and was inspired by an iconic red flower-adorned dress worn by Diahann Carroll. Carroll was a prominent women’s rights activist and the first African-American woman to win a Tony for Best Actress in a Musical. 'A symbol of opulence, if you will,' Union explained. 'A gilded glamour.'

But the hidden details don't stop there: Union also wore a string of red crystal beads, hanging from beneath her hair-do and down the back of her neck.

'When you think about the Gilded Age and Black and brown people in this country, this country is built off of our backs, our blood, sweat and tears,' she explained.'So we added these red crystals to represent the blood spilled during the accumulation of gross wealth by a few during the Gilded Age, off of the backs of Black people and people of colour in this country.'

Hillary Clinton made her return to the Met Gala's red carpet for the first time since 2001, wearing a deep red, timeless satin gown by Joseph Altuzarra.

But hidden within its neckline and hem, was a deeply personal touch: the hand-embroidered names of 60 American women who inspire her, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks and Clinton's mother, Dorothy Rodham.

Explaining the inspiration behind the dress to Vogue, Altuzarra revealed that this idea in fact came from the friendship quilts which were popular in America in the second half of the 19th century.

'I do think America has a very rich and long history of folk craftsmanship, which I thought was a really nice story to allude to,' said Altuzarra. 'People who aren’t famous but who would quilt at home and create things for their families.'