Met Gala 2022: Celebrities show off lavish outfits in New York

The Met Gala - one of fashion's biggest events - has rolled out its red carpet in New York for some of the globe's best-known stars.

This year's dress code - "gilded glamour", evoking America's late 19th Century age of economic boom - sparked some debate on social media.

Some poked fun at the choice of theme while American working families are struggling to make ends meet amid the highest inflation in four decades and an economy that just shrank in the last quarter.

One of the attendees, actor Riz Ahmed, arrived dressed as a chic labourer. "This is an homage to the immigrant workers who kept the Gilded Age golden," he said.

Actor Blake Lively poses on the red carpet after surprising the crowd by unfolding her dress to reveal another longer dress

Actor Riz Ahmed (left) said he dressed as a chic labourer to stay within the theme while also paying homage to "immigrant workers who kept the Gilded Age golden"

Kim Kardashian (left) wears the dress Marilyn Monroe once donned to sing ‘Happy birthday, Mr President’ to John F Kennedy in 1962

Model Lily Aldridge wears a gown covered in 170,000 crystals

Editor in chief of Boy magazine Fredrik Robertsson wears a jumpsuit featuring silver structured fins

Singer Erykah Badu poses in a patchwork top hat

Singer-songwriter Teyana Taylor and model Winnie Harlow wow the crowd in their ensembles

Olympic snowboarding gold medallist Chloe Kim wears a fluffy white gown covered in red feathers

The fundraiser has returned to its usual early May slot after the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 event and delayed last year's until the autumn.

Some 400 names from the worlds of music, film, fashion and sports strutted their stuff at the lavish costume parade on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Read more: 22 of the hottest looks from the 2022 Met Gala

Among the guests was former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who said she was attending for the first time in 20 years to celebrate the fashion and spirit of America.

Tickets for the famously over-the-top do cost $35,000 (£24,000) and tables go for up to $300,000 (£239,000).

The party raises millions of dollars for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, a fashion museum whose tens of thousands of exhibits are closed to the general public.

Singer Anderson Paak dances his way down the red carpet

Singer Lizzo graces the crowd with a flute performance on the red carpet

Former presidential candidate Hilary Clinton (left) worked with fashion designer Joseph Altuzarra (right) on her dress, which has the names of 60 celebrated women of the past embroidered on it

Actor Sarah Jessica Parker wears a dress paying homage to the designs of the first black female fashion designer in the White House, Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley

Model Gigi Hadid wears an all-red ensemble featuring a puffer jacket, corset and latex trousers

Actor and musician Jared Leto (right) and fashion designer Alessandro Michele (left) wear matching embroidered suits

Actor Jessie Buckley wears a pinstriped suit complete with fake moustache

Actor Nicola Coughlin channels her Bridgerton TV series character Lady Whistledown

Fashion designer Pierpaolo Piccioli (right) shows off actor Glenn Close's (left) pink ensemble