Isn't it reassuring to see the impeccable New York fashion set enjoying themselves at a Dame Edna Everage tribute evening? Take the formidably stylish Anna Wintour, who is either immensely excited to see us or simply trying - as one does when one knows that an occasion may drag a little - to smuggle a couple of spare ovaries and a parachute into the party. Or the one-bow-is-never-enough Mischa Barton.

Bafflingly, it turns out that this is not a Dame Edna tribute but the immensely glamorous Costume Institute annual ball, which took place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on Monday night.

Under the auspices of Wintour, the ball, which takes place every year as a prelude to the fashion exhibition in the museum's special exhibitions gallery, has become one of New York's most hyped events, a cacophonous constellation of Hollywood, hair and haute couture.

Designers are said to pay handsomely for the honour of being exhibited at the Met and chairing the gala with Wintour, who, after 20 years as editor-in-chief of US Vogue, has pulled off the triple whammy of becoming an arbiter of society and cinema as well as fashion. While the Oscars have become a medley of bland outfits conceived primarily, it would seem, with the aim of not humiliating the actresses wearing them, the Met Party prides itself on its fearless style statements - and the energetic lengths to which A-listers will go: (a) to secure a ticket; and (b) to find a statement so fearless that it obliterates all others.

Duvets (the Czech supermodel Karolina Kurkova) and tartan crinolines (Sarah Jessica Parker) have previously been requisitioned hot off the catwalks, giving bloggers endless pleasure as they earnestly debated the unfolding catastrophes. This year the actress and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg came as a lung, Kate Moss as a barmaid and Katie Holmes - Mrs Tom Cruise - finally outed herself as a Thetan ... truly this year the event surpassed itself in brave fashion moments.

For those who revel in the rich and beautiful making complete prats of themselves, it really was a joyous occasion. Perhaps it was the theme - Superheroes: Fashion And Fantasy - although many of the guests appear conveniently to have forgotten it. But there really were some bafflingly awful frocks on show.

Wintour, meanwhile, gamely followed her own instructions to the letter, donning a silver column that came with its own handles/pockets. For those who didn't spot it straightaway, she is dressed as Storm from X-Men. It takes a sterling effort from the über-chic Wintour to look kitsch. But was it plucky or yucky? You decide - a zillion bloggers already have.

For spat-watchers there is even more to enjoy: the haute couture ovaries on the dress (or are they the missing snails from Dr Dolittle?) were designed by her old friend Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, and not by her new friend Giorgio Armani, who this year hosted the ball with her. Previously, Balenciaga's Nicolas Ghesquière and Chanel's Lagerfeld have chaired the event with Wintour, and on each occasion the 59-year-old “high priestess of chic” chose to wear designs by her co-hosts.

But Armani and Wintour have long had a tetchy relationship. When they announced their joint collaboration on the ball this year, Armani went wildly off message from his PR hymn sheet, announcing that “I was told she [Wintour] once said, ‘The Armani era is over'”.

They buried the hatchet by coming together for the party. Perhaps it'll turn up in one of those pockets.

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