The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute held it’s annual fashion gala, this year titled Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC last night (think of it as Celebrity Prom). Rihanna made her red carpet return, taking a stroll down the press-filled carpet for the first time since her assault back in February … she opted for a shiny black suit with floods. Madonna caused a sensation on the red carpet when she showed up with a coat hanger wrapped in an old turquoise stocking attached to her head. A who’s who of fab celebs braved the rain to attend last night’s gala and many of them looked amazing (Anne Hathaway, I’m talking to you). Here are a few pics from the red carpet arrivals and some info on the event itself:

Even with the rain, the stars shone bright Monday night at the Costume Institute’s gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Models and the hottest celebs turned out in droves to celebrate “The Model as Muse” exhibit. There was Gisele Bundchen and Chanel Iman, along with Victoria Beckham, Jessica Alba (in Michelle Obama favorite Jason Wu), Renee Zellweger (in Carolina Herrera), Eva Mendes (in Calvin Klein) and Eva Longoria, wearing Diane von Furstenberg. Chairing the event were Marc Jacobs, Kate Moss and Justin Timberlake, who rocked a pair of geek-chic specs (and girlfriend Jessica Biel). For a party celebrating models, the guest list was missing a few of the big ones. Legendary supermodels Stephanie Seymour and Naomi Campbell opted out of attending the gala – reportedly in solidarity with their date, designer Azzedine Alaia, who felt his clothes were underrepresented in the exhibit. And Christy Turlington is abroad filming. But though those notable ’90s frock stars’ absence left the party, well, a lot less super – even with Cindy Crawford in the house – fashion’s new guard arrived in full force. Heidi Klum, pregnant with her fourth child and wearing J. Mendel, promised to wear “high heels in the delivery room.” Tyra Banks wore Badgley Mischka, and Rachel Roy dressed India-born Lakshmi Menon. Kanye West helped deflect reports he’s broken up with model Amber Rose by making a show of support – literally, gripping her as she teetered and adjusting her dress. Model behavior, indeed.

It turns out that Maddy’s funky headpiece was designed by Marc Jacobs and, apparently, is a look that was used on the runway at the Fall fashion shows this year. Unfortch, I think the contraption makes her look like a geriatric Playboy bunny. Not a good look for her. Methinks that she was heavily inspired to wear something “wacky” at last night’s Costume Institute Gala after she attended Lady GaGa’s concert in NYC over the weekend. But, there were many other folks who looked utterly faboo at last night’s event. Vicky B. rocked her usual short skirt look (meh). But there were a lot of really great looks on the red carpet last night. After the jump, check out a few more pics from last night’s event and see who rocked and who LOLed …

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Late last year we learned that 20-year old underwear model Justin Gaston (who is more famously known for dating 16-year old Miley Cyrus than for his modeling) would be appearing in ads for the Spring/Summer 09 Roberto Cavalli collection along with supermodel Kate Moss. In late December, we got to see Kate and Justin in the first ad released. As you may recall, Kate looked amazing … Justin looked unrecognizable because only his back was featured in the ad. Today, we get to see 3 new ads from the Cavalli campaign — fortunately for Justin, he gets a bit more facetime in these ads:

Well, at least in these ads you can actually tell that Justin Gaston is a model and not just a glorified piece of furniture for Kate Moss to lay on. I’m relieved to know that Justin is capable of making his own money from his modeling gigs … I’m sure the Cyrus family appreciates that fact as well. I’m also relieved that Justin Gaston is capable of doing more than just insulting people by taking photos with his much younger girlfriend and his equally immature friends who all seem to enjoy mocking minorities … glad to know that the guy is at least multifaceted.

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Last month we learned that Justin Gaston, underwear model and older manfriend to poplet Miley Cyrus, was chosen to appear in a new ad campaign for Roberto Cavalli and it turns out that the ad has already been shot … AND it also features supermodel Kate Moss! This is, by far, the biggest modeling gig that Gaston has been able to score in his short modeling career … there’s just one minor problem — you can barely see him in the ad:

Yeah, apparently Justin wasn’t really needed for anything other than a face down body for Kate Moss to lay on. Hmmm … doesn’t sound very glamorous, does it? You can’t even seen an arm. I sincerely hope, for Justin’s sake, there are more Cavalli ads to come cuz … if this is all he got, then he got robbed.

Additionally, Teen Vogue magazine managed to uncover an old modeling Polaroid photo of Justin Gaston back in his early modeling days. In fact, he looks about as young in the pic as the girlfriend he is reportedly romancing these days. After the jump, check it out …

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Back in August we were alerted to the fact that UK artist Marc Quinn was working on an upgraded version of the Kate Moss statue, called Sphynx, that he created back in 2006. When news came out that Quinn would be casting his Kate Moss statue in 18 carat gold we were not allowed to see the finished product (but we were shown a glimpse). At last, the final product can be revealed … behold, Marc Quinn’s latest “masterpiece” Siren:

She has graced countless magazine covers and inspired numerous artists to copy her image. But now Kate Moss has received the ultimate accolade after being immortalised in gold and displayed at the British Museum. And with daily share price drama as well as collapsing house prices this gold sculpture would provide as safe a haven as any for canny, and extremely wealthy, investors. Dubbed a ‘modern day Aphrodite’ the supermodel’s statue, unveiled on Wednesday, cost more than £1.5million to make – of which £1million was the price of the 18 carat gold. Artist Marc Quinn, who named the work ‘Siren’, said he expected to sell it for more than £10million. The piece is hollow and at 50kg is understood to weigh the same as the diminutive Miss Moss herself. It will be displayed from Saturday until January as part of the Statuephilia exhibition in the Nereid Gallery among statues of classical Greek goddesses including Aphrodite. Miss Moss’ pose is a little less conventional however. Mr Quinn elected to immortalise her in provocative yoga pose with her legs behind her head wearing only skimpy underwear. He said: “When I showed Kate the statue she told me she loved it. She really liked the idea and she modelled for me for a day or so.” But he added: “She didn’t pose for me like that. For Kate, she thinks it lifts her into a mythic level. I think she very much loved it because she understands the difference between her image and her self. The sculpture is really about whether we make images or they make us. It’s about trying to live up to impossible dreams and immortality.” The artist claimed that his piece questioned the notion of value in society in the light of the credit crunch. “With the financial crash at the minute. It is a really interesting time to do this. Why should gold be worth lots and steel not?” he said. “It’s because we have agreed it represents something special in our society.” The work is the largest gold statue made by man since ancient Egyptian times. Mr Quinn, who once made a bust of himself using eight pints of his own blood – has created statues of Kate before: Sphynx, a white painted bronze figure of Kate in another yoga pose, and an early version of Siren, also in white. Mr Quinn said of using Moss as a subject: “I thought the next thing to do would be to make a sculpture of the person who’s the ideal beauty of the moment. But even Kate Moss doesn’t live up to the image.”

Uhhh, yeah. I didn’t really understand the point of this piece back in 2006 and I really don’t get it now … but hey, it’s art, right? I’m actually very surprised to learn that this golden statue of Kate Moss is “the largest gold statue made by man since ancient Egyptian times”. I’m not entirely sure that I believe it but … again, who knows. In the end, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and while I may not necessarily be beholding a lot of beauty in this garish art piece myself that doesn’t mean that others can’t behold the beauty for themselves. What do y’all think … do we like?

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Remember THIS statue of Kate Moss? Well, I guess it was time for an upgrade:

She’s been immortalized in bronze, painted in oils and photographed all over the world. Now Kate Moss – fashion icon, mother and long time paparazzi favourite – has been paid the kind of compliment normally reserved for Egyptian queens and mythological goddesses. She has been sculpted in gold. A new statue of the controversial model is to unveiled at the British museum for an exhibition in October. The 34-year-old will join some of the nation’s other great treasures, including a centuries old statue of a naked Aphrodite, on loan from the Queen. This is the first teasing glimpse of the £1.5million likeness of Kate, one of a series by Marc Quinn, the artist responsible for the ‘Alison Lapper Pregnant’ sculpture that adorned the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square for 20 months. The museum released only a detail of the Kate Moss work in the hope that the full image could remain private until its unveiling. The statue, entitled ‘Siren’, depicts her in a yoga contortion. If it follows the theme of his previous Kate Moss works, it will place her feet somewhere near her ears and leave various other bits of her leotard-clad body inelegantly exposed to public gaze. The statue is said to be the largest of its kind since ancient Egyptian times. It is fashioned from solid gold. But because the statue is hollow, it weighs only 50 kilograms (110 lb) – possibly a little more than the waif-like subject on which it is modeled.

Um … why Kate Moss? Why not, say, Bea Arthur? Seriously. Anyone?

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