NEW YORK — The red carpet sizzled Monday night at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Benefit celebrating the opening of their latest fashion exhibit, “Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations.” The exhibit juxtaposes the very modern Italian designer Miuccia Prada with the very dead Elsa Schiaparelli (hence, um, the “impossible” part)—covering their fashions, lives and views on art.

“This is THE event of the year,” Tommy Hilfiger said. “It’s like the Oscars and Grammys all rolled into one.”

Odds are good he’s used that line before. But in this case, it’s kinda true

“This is as good as it gets,” Jason Wu concurred.

As fashionable red carpets go, there’s really none redder than this.

Rock Lobster

Co-chair Anna Wintour, as always, arrived first, wearing a white Prada gown festooned with gold beads in the shape of a lobster—an homage to a famed “lobster dress” designed by Schiaparelli and worn by the Duchess of Windsor in 1937.

That’s the exciting thing about the Met’s annual shindig. You can always count on high drama.

Like Christina Ricci, in her lacy Thakoon cocktail dress with enormous pink satin bow (you could wrap the Astrodome with it); Renée Zellweger in super-tight Emilio Pucci (with bare back and organza train); and Amber Heard looking regal in a mauve Zac Posen strapless with frou-frou caboose (it looked fab but it’s anyone’s guess how she sat).

“They’re both huge risk-takers,” Posen said of Prada and Schiap’ (which is pronounced “skap,” as in “skap-uh-RELL-ee”). “They both played with graphics, humor, irony, sarcasm—they’re each really someone to celebrate.”

What with both women hailing from Italy, there were a lot of Italians in the crowd. Which was pretty apparent by the bold fashion choices. In fact, it seemed a good theorem—if in doubt about the identity of particularly flamboyant guests, assume they’re Italian.

A woman in a yellow feather jacket with a purse like a Rubik’s cube? Gotta be Italian.

The dude sprinting up the steps in a sleek tux, tan and no shirt? C’mon…Italian.

And the woman poured into that bright white mini with Jetson-like pointy shoulders? Oh, wait—that’s Melania Trump. (Okay, Slovenian.) (The dress, by the way, was Marc Bouwer.)

What's a little rain?

A crowd of fans gathered on the sidewalk across the street to hoot and holler. Screams for Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake seemed loud enough to set off car alarms, and the voilume didn’t diminish when it started to rain. (Just a drizzle, but still.)

The rain had just let up a tad when Chloe Sevigny, desperate for a ciggie break, borrowed a lighter from a Women’s Wear Daily reporter and stepped outside the tent.

What's the best part of the evening, she was asked? “Sitting down, after hours in heels that are killing you.” Hers WERE killer—outrageous ‘70s platforms in glittery silver, to match a mini dress in a loosely woven grid pattern revealing flashes of flesh.

“It’s Miu Miu, the whole kit and caboodle,” she explained.

Nominees for Most Raucous have to include Karolina Kurkova, in a sparkly Rachel Zoe ensemble complete with turban (cuz, really, how often do you get to wear a turban outside of Boca?); and Marc Jacobs (in a black lace shirt dress with white boxers underneath); and Brit singer Florence Welch in a hilarious (there’s no other word for it) triple-tiered snowy Christmas tree of a dress (oh, gosh, now she’s spinning for the cameras). Sorry, Flo, but Marc’s dress is more appealing.

As usual, Beyoncé stole the show in a revealing black lace Givenchy Haute Couture gown that morphed into a lengthy purple feathered train. A flesh-colored bodysuit underneath the gown kept the singer, recently named the World's Most Beautiful Woman by People magazine, from showing too much.

Pretty in.....?

Surprisingly—celebs were rather restrained when it came to doing up the famed Schiaparelli pink, but when it popped up…it POPPED. There was Jason Wu’s black lace dress wrapped with swaths of pink (and worn by model Karlie Kloss).

Or Chris Benz’s Mohawk.

But the best had to be model Coco Rochas, wearing a Givenchy yellow pants suit with hot pink blouse and matching hot pink hair extensions. The ensemble was vintage—bought at auction in December and once owned by Elizabeth Taylor. Stained by her, too—the outfit came with a wine stain, which Coco tried to get out, but couldn’t. (Don’t worry—it’s faint.)

Rochas, had decided to go with the Liz look but “when I was told that Schiaparelli was known for her famous pink, I thought—great—I love it—we’re done.”

No doubt Miuccia and Schiap’ would’ve approved.

-----

“Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations” opens Wednesday through Aug. 19 at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.