Hollywood Reporter’s Met Gala power rankings keep Sabrina Carpenter near the top

The Met Gala is supposed to peak on the carpet and then fade into best-dressed lists. But this year’s story kept going. By Friday, the biggest new wrinkle was The Hollywood Reporter’s power rankings, which put Connor Storrie, Jennie, and Sabrina Carpenter near the very top and framed the night less as pure fashion judgment and more as a measurable attention contest. At the same time, Blake Lively’s appearance kept pulling the conversation away from hemlines and toward timing, optics, and celebrity damage control. ### What changed after the carpet? The fresh thing was the scoreboard. THR’s rankings landed after the May 4 gala and argued that the winners were not just the people with the prettiest looks, but the ones who generated the most heat online for themselves and the brands dressing them. Connor Storrie topped the list, with Jennie and Sabrina Carpenter close behind, which gave the usual “who wore it best” churn a harder edge. (hollywoodreporter.com) ### Why was Sabrina Carpenter still so high? Because her look was built to travel. Vogue’s breakdown of Carpenter’s night made clear she did not just show up in one polished outfit and leave it there — she leaned into an Old Hollywood idea, tied it to Dior, and made multiple changes over the evening. That is catnip for recap culture. One strong red-carpet image becomes several rounds of content, and that keeps her near the top even after the event itself is over. (hollywoodreporter.com) ### Why did Connor Storrie stand out? Partly because rankings love a breakout. Storrie is not carrying the same long-established fashion expectation as someone like Carpenter, so a sharp, controlled Saint Laurent look reads as a surprise as well as a success. THR’s list treated that kind of arrival as power in itself — not just looking good, but changing your place in the celebrity-style hierarchy in one night. (vogue.com) ### What was the actual metric? Earned engagement — basically the amount of attention a look pulls without the brand buying ads to force it into your feed. THR said this year’s gala set a new record for that measure across the stars and labels involved. That matters because it turns the Met from a vibes-only fashion event into something closer to a performance market, where visibility can be counted and compared. (hollywoodreporter.com) ### So why is Blake Lively in this story? Because she bent the usual post-gala script. People’s follow-up focused on the fact that Lively attended the gala just hours after news of a settlement involving Justin Baldoni’s Wayfarer parties became public. Her attorney, Sigrid McCawley, said the appearance was about “moving on with your life,” which pushed the night into a second storyline about resilience, image, and whether a glamorous appearance can also function as a public signal. (hollywoodreporter.com) ### Was her appearance seen as strategic? That is exactly why the story kept circulating. Lively had already been invited by Vogue before the event, and People noted that she sat with Anna Wintour inside, which makes the appearance feel less like a last-minute stunt than a decision not to withdraw. But once the settlement and the carpet happened on the same day, the symbolism became unavoidable. (yahoo.com) ### Why does this matter beyond one fashion night? Because the Met Gala now works like a weeklong attention engine. The carpet is only the opening bell. Then come rankings, close reads of brand wins, legal context, viral side moments, and the reshuffling of who counts as a fashion force. This year, Sabrina Carpenter stayed near the top because she arrived with a look built for replay — but the bigger takeaway is that the winners are now the people who can keep the story alive after the stairs are empty. (yahoo.com)