the met costume ball is always good times for red carpet watching.  there was over the top-ness (leighton and rhianna obviously), the shockingly sedate (kanye and gf), the just plain shocking (debbie harry.  what?), and the ornately glamourous (mary kate olsen).  

i think the four looks above are my favorite.  kind of simple i guess relative to a lot of others.  they all have long, classic silhouettes, but are somewhat out there in their own ways.  i think claudia’s versace is really incredible and possibly my favorite favorite.  versace only works for me a really small percentage of the time, but i think when it is good it’s really good.  (not on you cindy crawford.  yikes.)  ashley olsen in the row.  i love that she wore the row.  it’s just kind of shockingly simple, and cool, and very her…  i think lou doillon’s nina ricci is kind of hilarious, cute and glam all at once. not three qualities that i think are that easy to find in one evening gown.  (btw, a more modest, but similar nina ricci dress on tori burch- not quite as captivating…).  erin o’connor is one of my favorite models.  this to me has sort of a tough, punk-ish glam without needing a bunch of studs, chains, and hardware to get that point across.  i think this silhouette is so great with the pseudo tie thing, and exaggerated shoulders that to me really work with this look.  i feel like i’m getting sort of tired of the exaggerated shoulder showing up on everything just for the sake of it being an exaggerated shoulder, but this makes sense to me…  if you want more more more you can see full coverage plus the 50 best dressed on style.com.