Peacock escapes during Met gala

NEW YORK, May 8 (UPI) -- A peacock escaped her cage inside the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art during the social event the fashion industry calls "The Party of the Year."

The annual Costume Institute gala draws the likes of Donatella Versace and Jennifer Lopez. As guests mingled, the bird -- technically a "peahen" -- freed herself from the 20-foot-high gilded enclosure, The New York Times reported.

Event organizers chased her and she was eventually returned to her cage, where she was joined by three male birds. Having companions settled the peahen down, the newspaper said.

This year's gala was themed on French designer Paul Poiret, who actually placed his wife in a bird cage during a costume ball in 1911.

Most of the guests -- including Harry Connick Jr., Kelly Ripa and Renee Zellweger -- had never heard of Poiret.

The designer died "penniless" in 1944, said the Times. He was best known for designing garments that eliminated the need for a woman to wear a tight-fitting corset.

Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett may be remembered by gala attendees for what the London Daily Mail called her "stick-thin look." The paper published a story that focused on Blanchett's weight loss, adding that she looked "painfully thin."