Meet Us at the Met! Stars flocked to the 2022 Met Gala to celebrate the biggest night in fashion — and their red carpet looks did not disappoint.
The theme for the Monday, May 2, event piggybacked off of the 2021 “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion” exhibition, which was inspired by the concept of American identity. Prabal Gurung posed the question “Who gets to be American?” at his tenth-anniversary fashion show in September 2019.
“American designers are at the forefront of conversations around diversity, inclusivity, sustainability, gender fluidity and body positivity,” Met curator Andrew Bolton told Vogue last year. “The framework of the show enables us to focus on the younger designers who are engaging thoughtfully and deeply with those ideas.”
For the 2022 gala, celebs and stylists will follow the “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” a second celebration of American fashion history. Blake Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, join Lin-Manuel Miranda and Regina King as Monday’s cohosts. Tom Ford, head of Instagram Adam Mosseri, and Vogue‘s Anna Wintour were named honorary cochairs.
Ford, 60, raised eyebrows before the red carpet by throwing some not-so-subtle shade at the Met Gala. “It’s turned into a costume party,” the designer claimed in an excerpt of Anna: The Biography published by TIME magazine on April 25. “That used to just be very chic people wearing very beautiful clothes going to an exhibition about the 18th century. You didn’t have to look like the 18th century, you didn’t have to dress like a hamburger, you didn’t have to arrive in a van where you were standing up because you couldn’t sit down because you wore a chandelier.”
The Texas native didn’t mention Katy Perry by name, but the 37-year-old singer dressed as both a hamburger and a chandelier for the camp-themed event in 2019.
Perry isn’t the only celeb who’s shown up in a shocking ensemble. Kim Kardashian hit the 2021 Met Gala in an all-black Balenciaga look that completely covered her body from head to toe — including her face.
“I fought against it. I was like, ‘I don’t know how I could wear the mask.’ Why would I want to cover my face?” the reality star, 41, recalled to Vogue earlier this year. “But Demna [Gvasalia] and the [Balenciaga] team were like, ‘This is a costume gala. This is not a Vanity Fair party where everyone looks beautiful. There’s a theme and you have to wear the mask. That is the look.'”
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Keep scrolling for a look at all of the gorgeous gowns, mini dresses and more from the 2022 Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala red carpet!
