A handful of Hollywood stars walked a different kind of red carpet in New York City on Sept. 27 -- the opening of the Metropolitan Opera's season.

Several actresses, including Meg Ryan, Holly Hunter, and Anjelica Huston, wore New Yorker camouflage, otherwise known as black.

Kerry Washington, Patricia Clarkson, and the glowingly pregnant Vera Farmiga went to the other end of the spectrum, in pale gowns sure to pop against the opera house's red velvet seats.

Hunter and Clarkson were the seductresses in the lineup. Hunter's curve-hugging black lace was seemingly sheer, with strategically placed opaque black bands and ruffles. Clarkson channeled a 1970s siren in a slinky, buff number. (Click here for tips on how to wear these new nudes.)

Ryan, in a blue-black strapless Armani column, and Huston, in a swooping, textured Missoni, kept it simple.

Washington's look was far more youthfully romantic. Her off-the-shoulder, white-to-lavender Marchesa gown pooled into a short train, with an oversized floral motif on the skirt.

Farmiga took the night's production of Wagner's "Das Rheingold" to heart, wearing a goddess-worthy ivory dress with lavish gold embroidery around the plunging neckline.

As all of these actresses have had their turn at the Oscars, perhaps they reminisced about Academy Awards parties while touching up their lipstick in the powder room?

And what we'd also like to know is, did any of them skip out during intermission?

In related news, relive this year's Oscars red carpet here.