Enter the women: the voluptuous and outspoken Graham, Union as the activist actress, leading Bollywood lady Padukone, the Chinese model and Givenchy poster girl Ming Xi, Latin superstar González, German actress and fashion plate Kruger, Japanese model Hikari Mori and 21-year-old actress-turned-pop sensation Steinfeld. Spotlighting a mix of races, ages, body shapes and talents, this diverse group (who, between them, boast an Instagram following north of 50 million) champion the designer’s politics. And for Gurung—born in Singapore, raised in Nepal and now based in New York—politics and fashion are inextricably linked.“The world I want to live in is diverse and representative, it is stronger in color” he says. “With everything we do, we aim to celebrate these ideals. And this is exactly what we did: we brought together eight remarkable women to have a ‘seat at the table’.”

With at least eight crowns, countless crosses and even a six-foot pair of angel wings (Katy Perry, we’re looking at you), it was clear the theme Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination served as a strong source of inspiration. There was even a Joan of Arc (a choice by Zendaya we thought was both chic and inspired). However, if you do the math, Gurung began his process eight months prior to the first Monday in May, long before the theme had been announced. And so his starting point became his women. “This was my first time hosting a table,” he explains. “Such a big moment deserves an incredibly strong representation of some of the beautiful and inspiring muses of mine from around the world.”

Accordingly, Gurung—a ready-to-wear designer very much associated with wearability and, dare we say it, practicality—seized the opportunity to adopt a couture approach. "We essentially designed an entire Atelier Prabal Gurung collection,” he says. Characterizing the process as “vigorous,” he worked “tirelessly” to source exquisite fabrics and finesse every detail. For instance, the pearl and crystal embroidery on Diane Kruger’s cathedral-length train required 300 hours of meticulous hand work; it took months of back and forth before the right shade of yellow duchess satin—"Renaissance yellow"— was selected for Gabrielle Union; over 250,000 crystals were individually hand stitched into a cross motif on Mexican actress Eiza González’s column gown. That’s a quarter of a million crystals.

Though everyone loves a reimagining, self-referential design alone does not a Met Gala gown make. As the only red carpet to celebrate fashion per se (what the Oscars are to the movie business, the Met Ball is to the fashion industry), it provides a celebrated space for total creative freedom and unabashed craftsmanship—it’s where the magic is truly allowed to happen (no customers to worry about, no buyers to consider). Prime example: Rihanna’s yellow cape from 2015 (you know the one). It may have been immortalized into omelet memes, but no one could deny the staggering beauty of Chinese couturier Guo Pei’s workmanship.