Met Gala 2022: Molten gold, corsets and uncanny accessories — top trends that dominated red carpet

Yesterday, the first Monday of May, the Met Gala was back, and we finally saw Sabyasachi Mukherjee represented on the red carpet. Styled by Anaita Shroff Adajania, philanthropist Natasha Poonawalla attended the event in a gold handcrafted printed tulle sari and custom jewellery by the designer paired with a metallic gold, hand-forged Schiaparelli corset.

With its theme of ‘In America: An Anthology of Fashion’, the Met’s dress code this year was ‘gilded glamour’. According to Mukherjee, “he wanted to interpret the dress code with an Indian gaze that revels in its multiculturalism and authenticity.”

The Gilded Age, the term itself coined by Mark Twain, was a period in American history between 1870 to 1900 associated with rapid economic growth and unprecedented personal wealth. The period’s fashions were distinguished by extravagance, with men and women expected to change clothing as many times per day as their social status and wealth would allow.

Last night, the British-Pakistani actor and musician Riz Ahmed reminded the gathering that this richness would not have been possible without the rampant exploitation of immigrant workers. Ahmed came dressed in a white undershirt with a navy-blue shirt and matching pants tucked into knee-high leather boots, reminiscent of worker uniforms.

Riz Ahmed wore a jacket by Prada, with Cartier jewelry, in a look that he said that was conceived to “elevate and celebrate the working-class immigrants” of the Gilded Age.
PHOTO CREDIT: JOHN SHEARER/GETTY IMAGES

Several celebrities interpreted the theme literally, channelling the glamour and the exaggerated silhouettes of the era. Others like Hillary Clinton, who attended the event after 21 years, were influenced by other stories from American history. Clinton’s off-the-shoulder maroon silk gown, created by Joseph Altuzarra, was inspired by friendship quilts that people historically made together and signed their names in ink or embroidery to mark a special occasion. The gown bore the embroidered names of American women who inspired the politician.

Below are the top trends from the Met Gala this year:

Molten Gold

The red carpet was flooded with gold — obviously. The Marvellous Mrs. Maisel actress Rachel Brosnahan appeared at her second Met Gala in a cut-out Altuzzura gown with 20,000 gold Payette sequins that weighed approximately nine kilograms. Khloe Kardashian also made her Met Gala debut in a sheer gold dress by Moschino, covered with beaded fringes.

Cardi B attended Met Gala 2022 dripping with gold chains | Image from Getty

In a full-blown commitment to the theme, the rapper Cardi B came dripping with gold chains. A kilometre of them, to be precise. Her Versace gown was composed of seven types of gold chains bearing the house’s signature Medusa medallions, and the embroidery alone took over 1,300 hours between 20 craftspeople.

Corsets for All

The late 1800s were notorious for romanticising tiny waists, which were achieved by tightly laced corsets often reinforced by steel or whalebone. It was interesting, then, to see how several outfits last night uprooted the garment from this context.

Sarah Jessica Parker wore a Christopher John Rogers corseted, off-the-shoulder gown in a black-and-white check print. Inspired by an archival 1860s design by Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley, the dress paid homage to the black seamstress, civil rights activist, and author who became the first female Black fashion designer to work in the White House.

Sarah Jessica Parker at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala | Image by AP

The model Paloma Elsesser played with the idea of underwear-as-outerwear in a structured Coach silk-satin corset worn over a delicate hand-embroidered lace skirt made with repurposed dresses from the 1930s.

Lenny Kravitz took elements considered to be feminine – corset, lace, pearls — and tied them with leather to give us a rock-and-roll-inspired look and a lesson on the unisex potential of corsets.

Uncanny Accessories

When it came to accessories, Gilded Age rules were flouted. The Lost Daughter actress Jessie Buckley paired her Schiaparelli pin-striped suit with a fake moustache. Nicki Minaj, who refused to attend last year given the vaccine mandate, wore a baseball cap with her black Burberry ball gown. Kylie Jenner also chose a baseball cap in place of a traditional veil for her all-white bridal ensemble that paid homage to the late Off-White designer Virgil Abloh and precipitated many a Twitter meme.

Kylie Jenner | Image by AP

But no one did it better than Lizzo, who came in a black Thom Browne cape, embroidered with gold vines, atop a two-piece volume gown. Keeping up with a history of red carpet costume performances, the rapper came bearing a gold flute – and actually played it!

Lizzo

Role-play

Creating what was perhaps the most controversial moment of the night, Kim Kardashian walked the red carpet in the actual dress that Marilyn Monroe wore to serenade President John F. Kennedy on his 45th birthday in 1962. The translucent dress embellished with crystals was based on a sketch by Bob Mackie for the French-born Hollywood costume designer Jean-Louis, and was so figure-hugging that it had to be stitched onto her body. Vintage aficionados gasped when they thought Kardashian had altered the dress — which holds the record for the most expensive dress ever sold at auction — for the occasion. Apparently, she lost over 7 kgs in 3 weeks to fit into the dress and only wore it for a few minutes while walking down the red carpet before changing into a replica.

In a less-disputed look, Billie Eilish wore a Gucci corseted gown with sheer, green lace sleeves and ivory bustle skirt. Diet Prada compared her outfit to an 1885 portrait of Madame Poirson by John Singer Sarrgent, prompting Twitter followers to comment that Eilish not only understood the assignment, but actually wrote it.

Swareena Gurung is a freelance fashion and culture writer.

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