Camilla Belle

The Met Gala is known for delivering strong red carpet looks and Monday night's event was no different. It wasn't only about the clothes though because the beauty looks were equally as strong.

While there were a handful of questionable looks (sorry, Rachel Zoe and Christina Ricci), the majority were flawless. With both hair and make-up it was all about contrasts. Hair looks were either really severe and straight and generally tied back or came in Veronica Lake style waves and make-up was either really natural or dark and vampy.

Have a look through the gallery for my favourite looks.

Just about every major designer and model has descended on New York last night ahead of the Met Gala on Monday but ahead of the event, Balmain's Olivier Rousteing threw a big party last night at Chelsea's Hotel Americano. At the event the designer spoke about the launch of the brand's new Twitter and Facebook accounts that became live this week, revealing that he plans to get in on the Twitter action himself. 'It's a good way to understand what [customers[ feel about the collection, about the clothes and they can see the details, and they can be more a part of my soul,' he told The Cut at the event. 'I hope they will 'like us' and enjoy what we enjoyed to create.'

Aside from that, what was more interesting was his revelation that Joan Smalls is his guest at Monday's event. The partnership definitely works. Smalls looks good in everything but it will be interesting to see how she looks in a piece that showcases the new direction that the young designer is taking the brand.

That wasn't the only Met Gala confirmation from last night. Karlie Kloss will accompany Jason Wu, Anja Rubik is going with Anthony Vaccarello and Constance Jablonski will attend with Haider Ackermann. New in today is that Arizona Muse is teaming up with Erdem, Thakoon with Christina Ricci and Doutzen Kroes with Roland Mouret. The most interesting confirmation is that Karolina Kurkova will attend with Rachel Zoe, cementing her as a designer to be reckoned with.

See images from the Balmain party in the slideshow.