What does Gilded Glamour mean? Met Gala 2022 theme explained
After being postponed numerous times due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Met Gala 2022 is finally happening on May 2, 2022. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is hosting the most prestigious red carpet events in fashion with a star-studded lineup. The theme of this year's Met Gala is Gilded Glamour. What does it mean though?
The Gilded Age was in full swing from 1870 to 1890, according to Page Six Style. The term was coined by Mark Twain to characterize a time of wealth, industry, and development. The Gilded Age was a 30-year period, during which, the rapid rise of railways, factories, and cities boosted the riches of industrialists and real estate moguls. Famous family names like Frick, Astor, Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Vanderbilt built the country's infrastructure, while socialites like Caroline Schermerhorn Astor and Alva Vanderbilt ruled New York society. Fashion became more expensive for the urban elite, with lace and crystal embellishments, as well as bird wings – milliners during the time wore caps with many feathers, wings, and stuffed dead birds.
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Under their derriere-enhancing dresses, American women wore sophisticated undergarments like corsets, inflated shoulder cushions, bustle pads, crinolines (a sort of structured petticoat), and even steel springs to obtain the appropriate form. According to CNN, at the end of the century, the silhouettes had been reduced. Men's clothes became increasingly formal as well, with the newly popular tuxedo becoming standard attire for high-flying gentlemen in the 1880s.
Who decided on the theme?
The subject for this year's Met Gala was chosen by Anna Wintour, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue, and Andrew Bolton, Head Curator of Costume Institute at the Museum of Modern Art. According to Bolton, the second section of the "In America" display gives "historical context" to the first. In an interview with Vogue, he said, “The stories really reflect the evolution of American style, but they also explore the work of individual tailors, dress-makers, and designers."
The themes Gilded Glamour in 2022 and American Independence in 2021 are tied to the Met's "In America: A Lexicon of Fashion," which the museum describes as a "two-part investigation of fashion in the United States." "Part Two: In America: An Anthology of Fashion" will open on May 7, 2022, in the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and run until September 5, 2022.
Who are the hosts?
The 2022 event will be headlined by hosts Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Regina King, Lin-Manuel Miranda, as well as honorary co-chairs Tom Ford and Anna Wintour. The September hosts included Timothée Chalamet, Billie Eilish, Amanda Gorman, and Naomi Osaka. According to Variety, the Met Gala will include the work of eight film directors such as Janicza Bravo, Sofia Coppola, Julie Dash, and others.