Met Ball belles: Madonna in 2009; Alexander McQueen and Sarah Jessica Parker in 2006; Anna Wintour in 2008; David and Victoria Beckham in 2008.
See pictures from the 2010 Met Ball
While you're busy chilling out, maxing and relaxing all cool this weekend, New York will be silently abuzz with last-minute preparations for one of the most glamorous events of the calendar. The annual Costume Institute gala (or, as it's more commonly known, the Met Ball), will stop the city - and the fashion world at large - in its Louboutin-hewn tracks come Monday evening.
Widely acknowledged as a red carpet event second only to the Oscars, we recommend setting an alarm to come back to handbag.com and check out the photos first thing on Tuesday morning. Because, we guarantee, those looks are going to be all anyone's talking about.
Remember Victoria Beckham in that floor-length Armani dressing-gown dress, looking more Cruella de Ville than fashion superstar? Met Ball. SJP in a stunning tartan gown on the arm of the dress's illustrious designer, one Alexander McQueen? Met Ball. You get the picture. It's beyond huge; AA-list stars need only apply. And, well, from what we know already, the Met Ball's 2010 incarnation is going to be more talked about than any one of its stellar predecessors.
US retail giant Gap is sponsoring this year's proceedings and the label's creative director, Patrick Robinson, will play co-host alongside long-time contributor Anna Wintour and first-timer Oprah Winfrey (who we hear on the grapevine will be rocking Oscar de la Renta). The theme is American Women: Fashioning A National Identity, based, as ever, on a Costume Institute exhibition by the same name. Ms American Fashion herself, Sarah Jessica Parker, provided a voiceover for the exhibits and, with Sex And The City 2 poised to launch, she'll no doubt attract a fair proportion of the flashbulbs on the evening. (Our money's on her wearing Halston Heritage, FYI.)
While Gap naturally wanted to dress key attendees, this is one party where denim just won't cut it - so the label has come up with the devilish plan of inviting back a few of its designer collaborators and having them design one-off creations instead. Genius. Our sources tell us that lucky MIA and Zoë Kravitz will be dressed by Alexander Wang; Kirsten Dunst and Jamie Bochert by Rodarte; Kerry Washington and Riley Keogh by Thakoon; and Jessica Alba and Vera Farmiga by Sophie Theallet.
Elsewhere, model Doutzen Kroes will wear (and accompany) Zac Posen, Brit beauty Laura Bailey will be in Stella McCartney, and Taylor Swift and Jessica Biel will both be in Ralph Lauren as guests of the designer (along with Biel's other half, Justin Timberlake).
Invitation lost in the post? Never fear. Later in the week, Gap will open a pop-up shop on New York's 5th Avenue, where you'll be able to get up close to the Wang/Rodarte/Thakoon/Theallet creations in person before they're auctioned off to raise funds for the Met. Well worth a sniff if you're in the Big Apple.
Till then - see you bright and early on Tuesday.
