Michaela Coel, one of this evening's co-chairs, has arrived at the Met.

The British writer and actress told Vogue she was selected by Anna Wintour because "I was unafraid to be myself". She was similar, Wintour said, to Karl Lagerfeld.

Her dress contains 130,000 crystals and was made over 3,800 hours of work, Coel says.

"I am a total tourist in this industry," she says. "I'm here to serve."

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Rihanna, a Met Gala regular, was reportedly spotted in the wee hours on Saturday getting a last-minute fitting for her look.

According to Page Six, that look will involve $25m (£20m) in jewellery from Cartier.

But while we await this year's dress, here's a look back at some of her most iconic Met appearances.

In 2015, the singer stole the show with a stunning, and red-carpet-spanning, yellow gown by Guo Pei. The theme that year was "China: Through the Looking Glass".

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As co-chair in 2018 for the Met Gala, Rihanna arrived in a papal-inspired dress - on brand for the theme "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination".

She later told Entertainment Tonight how heavy the gown was.

"Every step was a squat," she said. "I promise you my butt gained from that night."

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Two years ago, Rihanna and partner A$AP Rocky arrived together - using the Met Gala to make their debut as a couple.

The theme that year was "In America: A Lexicon of Fashion" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Rihanna opted for a Balenciaga overcoat and a matching hat from Stephen Jones Millinery.

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Ellie Violet Bramley
Fashion critic

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This is the kind of moment Chanel-heads will be waiting for – Nicole Kidman appears to have arrived in the dress she wore for the Baz Luhrmann-directed advert for Chanel No 5 that became the gold standard of extremely glamorous and somewhat daft perfume ads of a certain era.

As Wintour recently told Vogue of the film: "“Even though it was a small film, Nicole and Karl and Baz treated it like it was an epic five-hour film. There were many meetings, many meetings, and many script discussions.”

It is frothy, it is pink and it is exactly what you would hope for at a Lagerfeld-themed Met Gala.

There's been a rush of arrivals - we'll keep sharing photos as the guests continue to arrive.

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Ellie Violet Bramley
Fashion critic

Emily Ratajkowski is another fan of vintage fashion – last year she wore vintage Versace to the Met – and it has been reported in recent days that a stylist was working on her behalf to secure something from Lagerfeld's vast archive.

It is all about the pleasing opposites: soft tulle meets rigid geometrics; black lines meet understated pink.

The plunging neckline keeps it on the edgier side of fairytale and the train adds a moment of drama, albeit an understated one, relatively speaking - this is the Met Gala after all.

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Nada Tawfik
Met Gala red carpet

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Scottish actor James McAvoy just told me he is wearing his polka dots and high collar in an "homage to Karl".

"I just feel very lucky to get to come to things like this," he said.

But fashion is "not my wheelhouse", he admited.

"I get to come to be a bit of a passenger and a spectator... you feel like you’re in the Super Bowl, the Oscars of fashion."

And what about the exclusive party inside?

"I can’t tell you," he replied. “Last year it got pretty real.”

Ellie Violet Bramley
Fashion critic

It always seemed likely that tonight would be a big one for lovers of fashion history. Straight out of the gates, Dua Lipa has proved it to be so.

The co-chair of the event is wearing a Chanel fall 1992 haute couture dress by Karl Lagerfeld that was originally worn on the catwalk by Claudia Schiffer.

From the voluminous skirt to the rigid corset, the dress speaks to Lagerfeld's ability to create timeless designs, looking very much of the moment even though it was first seen on a catwalk three years before Dua Lipa was born.

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The 2023 Met Gala co-hosts have started to arrive. Penélope Cruz, Roger Federer and Dua Lipa are currently walking the red carpet.

The trio will host alongside Michaela Coel and Anna Wintour.

Dua Lipa and Cruz are both wearing full-length gowns, while Federer is in a classic black tuxedo.

Cruz told BBC she had her pick of Chanel looks and chose this vintage option, which she preferred over other modern pieces.

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Ellie Violet Bramley
Fashion critic

The Met Gala is Anna Wintour's party and her arrival signals that things are starting to get going.

She and Karl Lagerfeld were great personal friends and his clothes have been worn by her to all the biggest events of her life to date.

As she recently told the New York Times, his clothes were “a uniform, a kind of armour, and a way of holding certain moods and memories close. His fashion does for me what fashion should. It makes me feel more confident in being myself.”

It is no surprise, then, that Wintour has arrived looking ready for the big night ahead – she is wearing an intricately embellished coat from the Chanel spring 2023 couture collection in soft sherbet lemon and lavender and, no surprise here, her signature bob intact.

There is something very chic about arriving linking arms with Bill Nighy, too - the perfect accessory.

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Anna Wintour has made her entrance.

Earlier today, Vogue editor-in-chief and the Met Gala's mastermind praised Karl Lagerfeld, her close friend and the inspiration for tonight's theme.

"When we go back and we look at the work that he has created over so many years, I think that deserves celebration," she told CBS News, the BBC's US partner.

But Wintour also acknowledged the designer's controversial legacy. He famously said in 2009 that "no one wants to see curvy women". He was also critical of gay marriage and the Me Too movement.

"Karl was provocative, and he was full of paradoxes. And I think sometimes he would say things… to shock, and not necessarily things that he believed in," Wintour said.

"Karl was a complicated man," she added, saying the exhibition looks at Lagerfeld's work and is not a biography.

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As much as the fashion is meticulously curated for this event, so too is the guest list.

Vogue’s editor-in-chief Anna Wintour says she tries to reflect the cultural moment. So it's no surprise that big names such as Beyoncé, Rihanna and Kim Kardashian are once again expected to be here.

But someone who’s also expected to get a lot of attention is Brittney Griner, the WNBA star who spent 10 months in a Russian detention facility.

And James Corden will be attending with his wife, fresh from his sign-off from the Late Late Show.

There are a few notable no-shows, which will certainly disappoint avid fans of the event. Two celebrities who have worn some of the most unique looks in the past - Blake Lively and Katy Perry - will not be there this year.

Pratiksha Ghildial
Met Gala red carpet

This is my first Met Gala and I can confirm that the glamour is reserved for the celebrities - despite the many reporters who choose to dress on theme.

We have been waiting here at the Met for hours for the event to begin - first outside and then inside the museum.

We were recently herded in and are now packed here - shoulder to shoulder - on the steps in front of the museum, waiting for the big names to arrive.

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Ellie Violet Bramley
Fashion critic

One notable omission from this year’s red carpet is Choupette, Karl Lagerfeld's famous cat.

The feline's Instagram, which has 163k followers, external, shared that while many people invited him to walk the red carpet tonight “in tribute to Daddy”, “we preferred to stay peacefully & cosy at home.”

But the build up to this year’s Met Gala has, aptly for a party in tribute to a designer with some offensive opinions, been mixed.

Usually, the weeks and months preceding fashion’s big party have been about securing dresses.

But for a few, they’ve spent the time deciding if they should sit this year out completely.

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This year's red carpet is not red at all. It's white, mostly, with a bit of red and blue.

It's a big departure from last year, a red and much darker-hued affair.

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Last month, the Academy Awards also controversially strayed from the traditional red carpet, opting for a beige colour instead.

Are red carpets out of style this year?

Nada Tawfik
Met Gala red carpet

Part of the intense intrigue around the Met Gala is what happens inside the party.

That is largely kept private and press access ends at the red carpet.

Nevertheless, some reporters go all out and really commit to the theme.

The bigger press outlets even get eager designers to dress their talent.

Take a look at these Karl Lagerfeld-inspired styles.

Incredibly intricate, strangely mesmerising or just bizarre.

The main rule for the Met Gala is don't be boring. Here are some of the most famous looks to grace the red carpet in previous years.

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Ellie Violet Bramley
Fashion critic

Karl Lagerfeld adored spectacle, and the Met Gala is the night of the year where celebrities, sartorially speaking, go all out. It's all about spectacle.

So it feels safe to say that we can expect fireworks from the red carpet tonight, where guests have been tasked with dressing “in honour of Karl”.

Archival outfits from his decades-long career will no doubt provide plenty of drama for the attendees who have secured them – stylists’ elbows have reportedly been out to secure some of the most iconic looks (the many wedding dresses of the Chanel brides are surely hot property).

There will be those who opt to cosplay as Lagerfeld himself – there is a reason he, with his silver ponytail and dark glasses, has become a popular Halloween costume.

While others will choose to pay homage to the most famous pet in fashion, his cat Choupette.

Nada Tawfik
Met Gala red carpet

Fans have already begun lining up across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on Fifth Avenue to try and catch a glimpse of celebrity attendees who will begin arriving in about an hour.

Even though celebrities enter through a tent, some have taken the time to wave to the crowd as they emerge from their black cars and limos.

You can usually tell from where the press stands on the red carpet if a big name is about to arrive by how loud the screams are outside.

Steven McIntosh
Entertainment Reporter

Following the announcement of this year’s Karl Lagerfeld theme, some people were quick to point out the designer’s history of controversial comments.

The Good Place actress Jameela Jamil condemned the theme in a post on Instagram.

“This man was indeed, supremely talented, but used his platform in such a distinctly hateful way, mostly towards women,” she wrote.

Before his death, the designer faced criticism for saying he was "fed up" with the Me Too movement, that he was not in favour of same-sex marriage, and for describing British singer Adele as “a little too fat”.

In her post, Jamil referred to Lagerfeld's 2009 interview with German magazine Focus where he commented that "no one wants to see curvy women”.