This year's event, Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, honoured the work of the late designer, who committed suicide in February 2010 at age 40.
"I miss him terribly, not only as a person but as a designer," said a visibly emotional Madonna, who was wearing a gown by Stella McCartney.
"I think the fashion business is a little bit dull without him and I loved his provocative punk rock attitude. I think his designs were brilliant. I think he was brilliant. And I hope he's having fun wherever he is right now."
Designer Rachel Roy chose her own gown for the event with McQueen in mind. She said she picked a more refined design to showcase that part of his personality.
"I wanted to show his more ethereal side," she said.
Celebrities
Many celebrities who attend the Met Gala are escorted by the designer who dressed them.
Francois-Henri Pinault, chief executive of luxury conglomerate PPR, and his wife, actress Salma Hayek, served as the event's honorary chairs.
British Oscar-winner Colin Firth, designer McCartney and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour were vice chairs.
Others who walked the red carpet, included Jennifer Lopez and husband Marc Anthony, American Idol host Ryan Seacrest with girlfriend Julianne Hough, Gwyneth Paltrow, Penelope Cruz, Jessica Alba, Fergie and Sarah Jessica Parker, who wore McQueen.
Also in attendance was the successor to McQueen at his fashion house, Sarah Burton, who also designed Kate Middleton's wedding dress.
Designers
The Met Gala differs from other red carpet events in that guests often ditch their usual dates to attend with the designer of their dress. This year, that was sadly less the case (probably since so many were in Stella), but there were thankfully a few fun holdouts.
Chanel muse Blake Lively attended with Karl Lagerfeld (and they met up with Yoko Ono), Christina Ricci was with Zac Posen; Penelope Cruz with Oscar de la Renta and, in a double-whammy, Donna Karan with Calvin Klein.
Queen Bey in a tight spot
Wardrobe malfunction doesn't even begin to sum up what happened to Beyonce and Jay-Z at the Met Gala. Thanks to a super-tight fitting dress Beyonce found navigating the famous red stairs a perilous business — meaning she skipped stopping for many photographers. The result? The couple were roundly booed by the disgruntled snappers.
"OMG Beyonce and Jay-Z are being BOOED at the #MetGala for not posing for pictures! Yes, boo!" tweeted New York Magazine's The Cut blog, live-tweeting from the red carpet.
"Beyonce's Pucci dress was so tight she could barely walk up the stairs as she failed to stop for the photographers," The Cut added. There's a video of the incident online — judge for yourself if she deserved the boos or not.
Music box
Florence + the Machine performed at the event, but there were plenty of other musical stars in attendance.
Rihanna gave a shoutout to the designer of her dress, Stella McCartney, through twitter ("Congrats to my friend Stella McCartney on being the honorary designer at the Met Ball tonight! I love u chica, see u soon! We gonna ROCK OUT"), while Kanye West attended with designer Tory Burch, in a custom Burch tuxedo based on one that her father had made-to-order.
Bruno Mars showed up with his tour mate, the super stylish Janelle Monae, in Chanel.
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