At the 2022 Met Gala, Celebs Took the ‘Gilded Glamour’ Prompt Literally

We should have seen it coming a mile away—we could, literally, because it was so bright and shiny. Celebrities on the Met Gala 2022 red carpet embraced the theme “Gilded Glamour” the way people with unlimited money and resources often do: very, very literally.

Fashion’s biggest night this year was an ode to the Met’s exhibit “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” the follow-up to last year’s exhibit, which was “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.” Lexicon this, anthology that—“Who is going to wear a shiny dress?” those of us who barely made it through Art History 101 ask plaintively. The answer: almost everyone.

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The Met Gala 2022 red carpet was dominated by shades of yellow and gold, sequins and beading, rhinestones and glitter. Tiaras were so plentiful, a bird’s-eye view of the event might have looked like a crowd of children waiting to ride It’s a Small World. Even by celebrity standards, with their nearly unfettered access to Cartier and Harry Winston, guests were dripping with jewels. If all of the metals worn on the carpet were melted down, they would probably be enough to build a life-size model of the Statue of Liberty referenced by Blake Lively’s gilded gown.

Did these celebrities—as the rusty old phrase goes—understand the assignment? Or did they merely fail to think outside the gold-leaf, jewel-encrusted box? The world is full of darkness and pain—is it such a hardship for us if multiple celebrities channel Old Hollywood glamour simultaneously?

Cora Harrington, fashion critic and editor of the late, great blog The Lingerie Addict, wrote approvingly on Twitter of some of the more golden-goddess looks. “Okay! In one of my threads a few weeks ago, I was like, ‘dripping in gold’ is also an acceptable take on Gilded Age (because literalism!), and this is that,” she wrote of Cardi B’s gleaming gold hourglass Versace look. “More is more is more is more.”

Critiquing the evening’s fashion for , Jessica Testa noted that when it comes to shades, not all gold is worth the same: “I loved Chloe Bailey’s structural sparkly gold dress by Area. (I appreciated that it was a different shade of gold, compared with all the other gold dresses—like yellow, sickly gold.)”

And many people pointed out that, while we may break apart women’s looks, that’s because so many of them brought it, or at least made a strong attempt. Men: try again next year.