From armless outfits to sleeping bags, it was all about the avant-garde at this year's Met Gala

It was a night full of weird, wacky and wonderful outfits as the Met Gala celebrated all things avant-garde in honour of the edgy, eccentric Japanese fashion designer Rei Kawakubo.

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art is about to open up an exhibition on Kawakubo called Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between. The star-studded gala is linked with the exhibition's opening and acts as the museum's annual fundraiser for its Costume Institute. And what a fundraiser it was.

• See even more wacky, wonderful outfits from this year's Met Gala in our live blog

Tickets to the event cost $30,000 US apiece with tables running at $275,000 US. But even if you've got the money, not just anyone can show up. It's ultra-exclusive and requires a personal invitation approved by Vogue's Anna Wintour.

While known as the Met Gala, the event has many nicknames: the Super Bowl of fashion, fashion prom, the Oscars of the East Coast, even an ATM for the Met.

Here's were some of the highlights and lowlights from the celebrities who strode the blue carpet Monday evening.

Sticking with the theme

Not everyone that comes to the gala dresses up according to its theme.

But some celebrities took it super seriously. Pop star Rihanna was clad in a fluttery petal-like piece designed by Kawakubo. She's always eagerly anticipated on the red carpet, with her past gala outfits referenced year after year as highlights.

Several others also took avant-garde inspiration including, from left to right, singer and gala co-host Katy Perry, model Aymeline Valade and Michele Lamy with her designer husband Rick Owens.

Apparently, armless is in

Pharrell's wife Helen Lasichanh took the call for avant-garde dress to heart. She showed up in a bulbous, armless red dress, designed by Kawakubo, famed for her dresses with lumps and bumps.

Some likened the outfit to the red chair from Blue's Clues, while others thought she looked lobster-esque.

Caroline Kennedy, an honourary chair for the Met Gala and the former U.S. ambassador to Japan, followed Lasichanh's lead, also sporting an armless, lumpy, bumpy outfit that looked like a set of umbrellas.

Train in vain

There were a fair share of trains traipsing the blue carpet. Trains are when fabric from the dress (or in actress Priyanka Chopra's case, the trench coat) runs behind whoever is wearing it.

Chopra posed on the carpet with singer Nick Jonas but it was her Ralph Lauren-designed train which caught the most attention.

Singer Solange Knowles took a different approach with her train — she wore a black quilted down-filled coat dress by Thom Browne, which drew comparisons to a camp sleeping bag. She topped it all off with ice skate-inspired high heels.

The Canadian connection

A few Canucks showed up, including Toronto's the Weeknd (actual name: Abel Tesfaye), who walked with his date American actress and singer Selena Gomez. The musician, pictured left, is no stranger to the gala. He performed at the gala last year and walked the red carpet with model and his then-girlfriend Bella Hadid.

Québécois chanteuse Céline Dion was one of the last to walk the carpet, wearing Versace paired with a high hair sculpture. She told reporters that it was great to be there: "To wear something, to be recognized, the whole thing is overwhelming." She's pictured below, right.

Fashion can be exhausting

Rapper Sean Combs, who also has gone by Puff Daddy, Puffy, P. Diddy and most recently Diddy, said he was "getting tired" so he opted to lay down on the stairs leading up to the museum.

He watched his girlfriend Cassie pose while wearing an embellished cape in a spider web design that carried over to his Rick Owens tuxedo. "It took a half-hour to get ready. We dress like this on the weekends," he joked.

Seeing double

Celebs strutted down the carpet sporting patterns of all kinds, whether it be futuristic silver stars (worn by actress/model Cara Delevingne with her newly shaven head), tartan courtesy of businesswoman Julie Macklowe or even a camo-clad Madonna. The trio — Delevingne, Macklowe and Madonna— are pictured from left to right.

But the night's strangest surprise went to Jaden Smith

The teenage musician, actor and son of Will Smith cropped off his golden dreadlocks and carried them with him as he made his way down the carpet.

It was rather avant-garde of him.