Kanye West

The Met Gala is a high-profile party in NYC that marks the opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual fashion-related exhibit at the Costume Institute.

It also produces a red-carpet spectacle that, whereas other red carpets engender class and decorum, encourages celebrities to dress and act as zany as possible.

The theme of this year’s Met exhibit is Punk: Chaos to Couture (check out coverage on our women’s blog). The first favorable outcome of this auspicious motif was a series of fashion films from event sponsor Vogue. Dubbed Punk Stories, they included British model-of-the-moment Cara Delevingne displaying her patented mix of good humor and bad attitude (above) and Ukrainian-Canadian bombshell Daria Werbowy, barely recognizable (but still stunning) in a bleached buzz-cut and various other punk-inspired transformations (below).

Then, there’s the wild red carpet and ensuing after-parties. We’re no fashion police when it comes to womenswear—but we know what we like. Here are the ladies (and a couple men) we thought went the most “punk rock” at Monday night’s Met Gala:

Nicole Richie spray-painted her coif grey for the night (and rocked some high-end Topshop).

Alexa Chung wasn’t afraid to push Gerard Butler around.

Kelly Osbourne, Cara Delevingne, Rita Ora—you guys look great, but Miley Cyrus, of all people, was the one who hit the punk-rock nail on the head.

Taylor Tomasi Hill of Marie Claire donned some serious spikes—and while Thom Browne didn’t exactly wear his punk-rock spirit on his sleeve, we know he has it in him.

We’re not sure about the blue faux-hawk, but Zachary Quinto’s eyebrow game, as usual, was on-point.

Rooney Mara’s attire for the evening wasn’t overtly punk—but if her anti-establishment Girl with the Dragon Tattoo character is permanently burned into your brain, like it is ours, you’ll agree that she’d look pretty tough even in a bathrobe and bunny slippers.

Kanye West performed, in his now-signature punk-inspired Givenchy gear.

Anne Hathaway went bleach-blonde, reportedly just for the night. For a girl-next-door type like her, that’s punk-rock enough to fit the theme in our book.

And then, there was the part where Jennifer Lawrence photo-bombed Sarah Jessica Parker. But Lawrence acts crazy even at the Oscars and on live TV, so “punking” SJP is par for the course. (Note Marion Cotillard and Lena Dunham cracking up in the background.)

For more punk-inspired fashion, go inside the Met’s exhibit
on our sister blog, The Thread.

[Photos and videos via Vogue.com, except for Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Lawrence via NYmag.com. Still photos by Pablo Frisk, except Cyrus and co. by Taylor Jewell, Kanye West by Kevin Tachman, Hathaway by Larry Busacca. Individuals pictured do not endorse Nordstrom.]