The Met Gala, held in New York City, did not fail to impress the world on Monday night. Many guests in extravagant outfits walked the red carpet toward the Metropolitan Museum of Art and this year’s exhibition theme was “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.”

The exhibit featured over 40 Vatican garments and accessories spanning 15 papacies. Items such as Pope Benedict XV’s white silk cape embroidered with gold thread and the pointed bishop’s hat of Pope Leo XIII, went on display alongside pieces by Coco Chanel, John Galliano, Cristóbal Balenciaga and Donatella Versace. Madonna sang a surprise performance of “Like A Prayer,” which was very fitting to the theme.

This year’s theme is cited as being the most controversial yet because of the positioning of these of these fashion garments along sacred artifacts. The curator of this exhibit, Andrew Bolton, defended his work at a press conference in Rome.

“Some might consider fashion to be an unfitting or unseemly medium by which to engage with ideas about the sacred or the divine, but dress is central to any discussion about religion,” Bolton said. “It affirms religious allegiances and, by extension, it asserts religious differences.”

The Met Gala was first held in 1948 to encourage donations from New York’s high society. The event raises money for the Met’s Costume Institute by gathering the most famous faces of fashion, film, music, and art to celebrate the museum’s latest exhibition. The event has been chaired by “Vogue” editor-in-chief Anna Wintour since 1995, who recruits public figures to co-chair with her. This year marks the 70 year anniversary of the event which was co-chaired by Rihanna, Amal Clooney and Donatella Versace this year.

The guests of the gala were supposed to dress according to the theme of the event. Many guests that went all-out with their outfits include Rihanna, Katy Perry, Blake Lively, and many others. Rihanna wore a dazzling papal-inspired outfit that took over 500 hours to embroider, featuring a peal and crystal-embellished Maison Margiela gown and a $15,000 bishops hat. Perry took her outfit to new heights with a Versace gold chainmail dress, thigh-high boots, and huge feathered angel wings that spanned almost six feet. Lively wore an ornate ruby and gold Versace gown, which took over 600 hours to create, and a dramatic spiked headpiece.

From extravagant outfits to a surprise performance to Madonna to an impressive historical exhibition, the 2018 Met Gala is being called the most lavish one yet.