I'm so sorry, but we Brits apologise far more often than nine times a day

More by happenstance than planning, perhaps, the Met Gala, which took place in New York on Monday night, struck a note that seemed to stridently oppose Donald Trump.

- Emma Brockes

Monday The theme of the evening, devised to advertise the Costume Institute's new exhibition, Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, was black dandyism – an apparently defiant pushback against Trump's executive order removing initiatives to promote "so called 'under-represented groups'". Even if the theme had been planned before Trump's re-election, it was surely great to see.

It was also a rare example of politics coinciding with the $75,000-a-head fundraiser in a way that wasn't completely tone deaf. The memory of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez using the Met Gala to advertise the slogan "Tax the Rich" – and in the process comprehensively lose control of her message – probably contributed to Kamala Harris's decision on Monday to slip into the Gala through a side door rather than risk the red carpet. (Harris was dressed in a black and white silk gown by IB Kamara, while Doug Emhoff, her husband, wore a tux by Brunello Cucinelli.) Other standouts of the evening: Colman Domingo's fabulous floor-length cape by Valentino; Madonna's white suit and cigar (her first time at the Met Gala in seven years and the 66-year-old's still got it); and Janelle Monáe and Whoopi Goldberg splendid in Thom Browne. Meanwhile Anna Wintour, the organiser and host, enjoyed what appears to be her annual public outing without sunglasses while flamboyantly performing her 2020 resolution – made in the face of accusations of racial insensitivity at Vogue – that she is "committed to doing the work".