On Monday we had yet another bank holiday, which is always plenty of reason to celebrate. But more still, the Met Gala (i.e. the most anticipated fashion event of the year) returned to the traditional first Monday in May slot after two years of COVID chaos. Last year, the event took place on 13 September and the year before, it was cancelled outright.
The 2022 Met Gala’s theme is In America: An Anthology of Fashion, or “Gilded Glamour”, and is the second part of the Costume Institute’s exhibition, which opened on 18 September. The first part of the exhibition was reflected in last year’s Met Gala theme, In America: A Lexicon of Fashion, which celebrated all things American Fashion.
What does Gilded Glamour mean?
The Gilded Age refers specifically to the period of 1870 to 1900 (although the Gala’s theme is in reference to the 1880s to 1900) within the Northern and Western parts of the United States. Whilst the Southern States remained impoverished after the American Civil War, other parts of America saw a boom in industrialisation and, in turn, economic growth.
Increasing innovations during this era meant fabric was faster and cheaper to produce than it ever had been before, which the wealthy elite happily took advantage of. Women’s dresses often included a range of textile combinations including silk, satin, velvet and fringe, all adorned with extravagant textures like lace, bows, frills, and ruffles. Bustles, boned corsets and bold colours (the result of new artificial dyes) were also commonplace in the wardrobes of wealthy women, accessorised with dramatic gloves, sculptural hats and opulent jewellery. The men adopted tuxedos from the English in the 1880s and often accessorised with top hats.
The term for the era – The Gilded Age – was introduced by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in the title of their 1873 novel as a satirisation of the way wealth and luxury were used to gloss over the significant inequalities and social issues present in society. If something is gilded, it has a thin layer of gold plating to cover its less attractive reality, usually metal, wood or stone.
50 Best Looks
We witnessed a range of weird and wonderful looks on the night, though there were many attendees who didn’t really follow the theme – not even Anna Wintour herself (and she’s the one who chooses the theme!)
So, we have tried to present you with 50 looks that cater to the theme at least to some degree. Ultimately though, the theme is all about interpretation.
Though the Met Gala theme is about interpretation, there’s no denying that some looks included significantly stronger elements of the Gilded Era than others. A few of the below may not directly reflect the theme but they were simply too good to miss out!
Check out 50 of the best looks from the night below.
Megan Thee Stallion in Moschino.
