“Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy” Costume Institute Gala 2008 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City brought out many celebrities, public figures and luminaries. As always, this is one of the hottest — if not the absolute hottest — red carpet event of the year.

L.A. might have the Oscars, but Manhattan’s social event of the season is the annual Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute gala, which draws bold-faced, glammed-up names from both coasts and across the pond.

Iman and David Bowie

Beyonce

This year’s theme? Superheroes, a fitting one given the massive box-office hit that was Iron Man and summer flicks still to come: The Dark Knight, featuring the Caped Crusader, and The Incredible Hulk.

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony

Designer Giorgio Armani served as this year’s honorary chair, while George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Vogue editor Anna Wintour chaired the benefit.

Hilary Duff

Armani dressed Clooney and Roberts. “He asked me very sweetly if I’d be his date,” Roberts, wearing a platinum Giorgio Armani Privé gown, said about the designer, who also outfitted other A-list celebrities, including Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Beyoncé Knowles and John Mayer.

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes

The crowd buzzed as Cruise and Holmes arrived, and Holmes, in an orange strapless gown, grinned and got a little assistance climbing the steep staircase in her killer blue stilettos.

Naomi Watts

But they did not stop for interviews; neither did Beyoncé, who was without Jay-Z and without a visible wedding ring. David and Victoria Beckham, in a sequined, plunging white Armani, posed for photos the longest, vamping all the way up the staircase.

Venus Williams

Clooney was taking it all in stride. “I get to have a drink. It’s easy for me,” he said. As for the superhero theme, he said he had a favorite when he was a kid: “Well, you know, I loved one that no one ever talks about, the Green Hornet. He was really cool.”

Source: Costume gala draws fitting crowd

Kimora Lee Simmons

Janet Jackson

See also:

• Stars and Superheroes Sparkle at Museum Gala
• Previewing the Costume Institute’s Superheroes Exhibit

Mary J. Blige

See many more photographs of the Costume Institute Gala:

• Gossip Girls
• The Costume Institute Gala Saves the Day!
• Celebrities, Fashionistas and Socialites — With Their Powers Combined

Video: ET report on the 2008 Costume Institute Gala includes an interview with Gisele Bundchen

That’s the news about the exciting event that is the Met Museum Costume Institute Gala 2008