The Top Celebrity-Finance Crushes on the Met Gala's Red Carpet

(Bloomberg) -- Roger Federer, in a Gucci tuxedo with a crystal king cobra on the back, spent a good while posing for photos on the red carpet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Benefit.

That left his entourage -- including John Griffin, founder of Blue Ridge Capital -- to make do Monday night on a set of stairs infested with celebrities and flash bulbs and some very weird outfits, thanks at least in part to the subject of the Costume Institute’s new exhibition, designer Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons. It wasn’t exactly a fight against boredom.

Rather than gawk at Matt Damon or Lena Dunham, Griffin snapped his wife Amy in a long-sleeved black-sequins dazzler with a star motif, posing with former tennis star Mary Joe Fernandez. Griffin also took a selfie with Federer’s agent (and Mary Joe’s husband), Tony Godsick.

A few steps and moments later, the Griffins said hello to Marissa Mayer before making it to the top landing, where their company included Katie Holmes, Paul Allen, Sofia Coppola, Caroline Kennedy and Claire Foy of "The Crown." Finally, Federer made his way to the top, and they all stepped into the inner sanctum.

Other people in finance had shorter stints on the red carpet (actually, it was sisal with royal blue trim). Steve Schwarzman and his wife Christine walked arm in arm straight up the stairs. Christine wore silver and red nail polish on her toes, but her Trump-advising husband donned nary a stud.

Not that the billionaire chief executive of Blackstone was expected to raise the style quotient. Ryan Reynolds’ shoes had a gold stripe in the heel. Alexander Skarsgard wore a white tuxedo jacket, black pants and a diamond and sapphire broach on his lapel. Dominic West of "The Wire" and "The Affair" wore a trendy pink shirt. Matthew Rhys of "The Americans" wore a Rag & Bone skirt that he said was keeping him comfortable in the warm weather.

David Ford, a former co-head of global asset management at Goldman Sachs, followed Priyanka Chopra, who wore a trench coat dress with a dramatic train that meant she was prepared to dine with rainmakers in the Temple of Dendur. (On the menu: lobster with caviar followed by sea bass or Wagyu beef, and mochi for dessert.)

Philip Falcone arrived before former Fed governor Kevin Warsh but after MSD Capital’s Glenn Fuhrman, who immediately followed Trevor Noah. Dirk Ziff and his wife, Natasha, followed the designing twin sisters Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.

Mike Arougheti, co-founder of Ares Management, arrived relatively late in the red carpet proceedings, and wound up being a harbinger of some of the highest-wattage guests, among them Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez, Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon, Kate Hudson and Madonna.

To contact the reporter on this story: Amanda Gordon in New York at agordon01@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Eichenbaum at peichenbaum@bloomberg.net, Keith Campbell, Jon Menon