The 2022 Met Gala theme was “Gilded Glamor-White Tie,” meaning that all celebrities have to do is dress as if they were a part of the late 19th century. Period pieces have been made dedicated to the Gilded Age and there is historical evidence of this era. Dressing for this theme should not be hard, however, the most interesting part of the 2022 Met Gala was not the actual outfits. But rather the fact that some attendees messed up such a simple theme.

The Met Gala is an event that has been held every year since the year 1948. The Gala was created to fund the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. Despite the event being created in 1948, it did not start having themes until 1973, The best theme where people properly followed the theme was the 2018 Met Gala “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.” Which is arguably the most well-known Met Gala because of the incredible fashion pieces. 

Attendees have been pretty good at following until last year with the Met Gala deciding on the theme “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.” Due to the vague theme, celebrity outfits clashed with each other. Celebrities wore either political, modern, or vintage pieces. Some celebrities even chose not to comply with the theme and wore whatever they wanted

Ever since 2018, the Met Gala has gotten more attention. This attention has been able to educate people who are not into fashion, that fashion is a form of art that deserves appreciation. Every year, people post their thoughts on the best and worst outfits. The thing about fashion in the Met Gala is that no matter the theme, the fashion is out there. Even if the outfit is not good, it still took risks. But the fashion this year, minus some exceptions, was not good mainly because the celebrities did not have substance and failed to follow the theme.

In order to follow the 2022 theme, attendees had to take inspiration from the Gilded Age. By looking at the painting from the late 19th century or even looking at the pictures from the show, the event could have had people in long coats and hats with feathers. Instead, fans of the Met Gala got Kylie Jenner wearing a wedding dress that was over a t-shirt and completed the look by wearing a baseball cap that was attached to a veil. There was also Jared Leto who wore a suit that did not pay tribute to the Gilded theme and brought a doppelgänger that wore the same outfit. 

However, there were some people that did follow this year’s theme. For example, Billie Eilish wore a corset dress that made her look like an upper-class woman from the Gilded Age. Cardi B put a modern spin on the theme by wearing a fairly conventional Gilded dress but the dress was decorated with gold chains. 

Fashion is art but it rarely gets recognized as such. The Met Gala is able to prove to people that fashion deserves to be taken seriously as an art form. I hope that designers can bounce back from these last few themes and be able to show people how amazing fashion can be.