Kansas City is represented on glamorous Met Gala red carpet. Here’s who was there

At one point during the red carpet arrivals at the Met Gala Monday night, the army of photographers began shouting “Kelce, Kelce, Kelce, Kelce!”

Nah, it wasn’t Travis Kelce.

They were yelling at singer Kelsea Ballerini.

Alas, not even all the Swifties watching livestreams of the arrivals could manifest Taylor Swift’s appearance, no matter how many times they dropped her name or initials into the comments.

Swift didn’t show. Neither did Kelce, her boyfriend and Kansas City Chiefs star. It was more a pipe dream, given that most accounts place Swift in Paris as she prepares to resume her Eras Tour on Thursday.

Marie Claire magazine was quick to declare the bad news: “Despite fans’ hopes that she would attend, it’s official: Taylor Swift skipped the 2024 Met Gala. The star hasn’t attended since 2016 … it’s now been eight years since Swift walked the Met’s iconic steps.

“The singer had been a mainstay on the carpet for much of the mid-aughts, attending six times between 2008 and 2016, when she was co-chair.”

Fans poured out their disappointment on social media, where they couldn’t help but wonder, with the help of a little A.I.: What would a Swift-Kelce appearance have looked like?

Even so, what a night for Swifties who might have never watched these annual red carpet festivities. High fashion! Celebrities!

Lana Del Rey — Swift bestie who was at the Super Bowl with her — wearing a veil held up by twig horns. Ed Sheeran, another Swift buddy, in a baby-blue Stella McCartney tuxedo. Ariana Grande wearing a Loewe dress covered in mother of pearl, her birthstone.

Actress, singer and Kansas City, Kansas, native Janelle Monáe has become a Met Gala regular in recent years. Last year she created one of the most memorable moments in a see-through, cage-like skirt that she lifted to reveal a black Chanel bikini.

She showed skin again this year in a silvery, glittery Vera Wang creation that E!’s commentators said was so delicate it might never be worn again. The flowers on the dress were made from recycled plastic bottles.

Had first-time viewers ever seen a dress big enough to swallow a house? (Cardi B.)

Do younger Swifties know Meg Ryan or Pamela Anderson without Googling?

Those watching livestreams learned that all that glamour belies the cacophony on the red carpet, which this year was actually white and painted garden green along the edges.

The annual gala, considered the fashion world’s biggest night, takes place the first Monday in May and raises money for the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

The theme of the Costume Institute’s new exhibit is “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” which is different from the dress code for gala attendees.

A-listers and their stylists seemed to be in a quandary over how to interpret the theme, “The Garden of Time,” based on a 1962 short story by British New Wave sci-fi writer J.G. Ballard.

The gala’s chairwoman, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, told guests to wear ensembles inspired by “the fleeting nature of time.”

Even the acknowledged “queen of the Met Gala” herself, Sarah Jessica Parker, admitted to Vogue that this year’s theme “confounded some of us.”

She said designer Richard Quinn took inspiration for her calf-length dress with a hoop skirt from Ballard’s dystopian tale about a couple’s wealthy life threatened by the rabble. The hand-embroidered bodice of her dress was trellis-like with lace stretched over it like canvas on a painting.

She wore a hat by Irish milliner Philip Treacy that fashion commentators on E! declared a “masterpiece.”

But her headgear perplexed photographers because it hid more than half of Parker’s face as she posed. Photographers yelled at her to “look up! Sarah, look up! Look up!”

And that’s how it went for more than three hours — celebrities getting yelled at by photographers trying to get their shots.

The bigger the star, the louder and more persistent the orders came.

Look right up here! Big smile! Now you by yourself! We need the front of the dress! Let’s see that smile! We need the necklace! Over the shoulder! Smile!

For her first Met Gala appearance, Grammy winning South African singer and songwriter Tyla wore a Balmain gown fashioned out of sand, an homage to the Costume Institute’s exhibit of fashion items from the Met’s archives too fragile to be worn again.

Swift might not have been there, but one of her squad members, model Gigi Hadid, made a huge splash in a white Thom Browne gown with 2.8 million bugle beads that needed five assistants to arrange its dramatic train for photos.

“Gigi over that shoulder. Gigi!”

“One more time in the front, Gigi.”

“Hold right there, Gigi.”

“No no no Gigi, we need the front of the costume!”

According to E!, it took 70 people more than 13,500 hours to create the gown — 20 people worked 5,000 hours just on the embroidery.

Every time screams erupted from the crowd outside the museum, cameras swiveled to see who had just walked in. The K-pop band Stray Kids prompted the first uproar of the night.

“How many are there?” a photographer could be heard yelling at his colleagues.

There were eight of them.

Kim Kardashian got huge screams, too, but it was Swift who social media watchers wanted to see. Though no official guest list was ever revealed, Swift and Kelce both reportedly scored invites this year.

Kelce was coming off a weekend when all eyes were on him, in a custom white suit and fedora at the Kentucky Derby and Givenchy at the Miami Grand Prix.

An invitation is considered a “get” for Hollywood stars, models, musicians, athletes and other celebrities.

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his wife, KC Current co-owner Brittany Mahomes, made their gala debut last year wearing coordinating black-and-white to honor the famous Chanel color palette.

The event last year honored the late Karl Lagerfeld, the longtime creative director for the French fashion house.

And speaking of France, Swifties are now focused on Paris, where Kelce is reportedly set to rejoin the singer after a few days apart.