Supervised and essentially handcrafted by Anna Wintour, the Met Gala is a fundraising event for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and is commonly referred to as “fashion’s biggest night out.”The Met Gala welcomes celebrities from everywhere to showcase their designer looks. The 2022 Met Gala’s theme is the first ever to serve as a continuation of a previous theme: “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” for the 2021 Met Gala, and “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,”  was the 2022 theme. Despite the theme, the dress code was “Gilded Glamor,” which invited guests and their designers to put a modern spin on 19th Century white tie attire. 

Just like previous years, people had a lot to say about the way celebrities came dressed. Though most of the feedback tended to be negative, there were celebrities that, according to the people, did arrive dressed on theme. One celebrity who dressed according to the theme  was Blake Lively, who was the Met Gala’s co-host who paid homage to New York’s City’s Gilded Age Statue of Liberty by dressing in Versace. With assistance, Lively undid the bow of her dress to unveil a hidden train on her gown, revealing the change from a green to an aged copper tone like the Statue of Liberty. “The unveiling of her (Lively’s) dress was so cool and I loved the dedication to the theme,” freshman Heerah Jayakumar said. 

Billie Eilish, who partnered with Gucci, also got praised for being on theme. Eilish wore a satin, corseted gown, which was complete with green lace sleeves as well as an ivory gathered skirt. Not only did her outfit quickly become one of the more popular outfits of this year, but it was also fully upcycled and eco-friendly. “I loved Billie’s outfit. It lived up to the theme and didn’t disappoint,” freshman Jade Claude said. 

An outfit that seemed to spark a great controversy amongst the people was Kim Kardashian’s, which was Marylin Monroe’s famous “happy birthday Mr. President,” dress. Though she only wore the dress to the red carpet and then proceeded to change into a replica,  people were unhappy with this attire, believing that it was disrespectful to Monroe and suggesting that she could have worn the replica the entire time and no one would be able to tell the difference. Kardashian also didn’t properly fit into the dress and had to cover up with a jacket, which only managed to outrage people more.

The Met Gala is known to be one of the most unique red carpets, allowing celebrities to have watershed turning points and a chance to prove themselves in a fashion perspective. Here, guests and their designers are able to bend the theme whichever way they want, whether they choose to play it safe or be risky and fully lean into the whimsy of the evening.