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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Lifestyle
Rafqa Touma

Fashion’s biggest night, the 2022 Met Gala – as it happened

Met Gala Anna Wintour Vanessa Hudgens Met (Facility) Vogue La La Anthony Lil Nas X Phoebe Dynevor Louis Vuitton Moschino
Lizzo on the red carpet at the 2022 Met Gala where the theme is ‘Gilded Glamor’
Lizzo on the red carpet at the 2022 Met Gala where the theme is ‘Gilded Glamor’. Follow live updates. Photograph: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

And that’s a wrap! The 2022 Met Gala red carpet is slowly coming to a close.

In summary, we saw bedazzled garments, intricate embroidery and gold layered on gold as guests interpreted the Gilded Glamor theme. Both men and women sported corsets, and with them came padded hips, dragging trains and puffy sleeves, harking back to the exaggerated silhouette of the late 1800s.

Some key moments:

Kim Kardashian cast herself as Marilyn Monroe. At least for a short while, when she took the original, multimillion-dollar dress Monroe wore when she sang “Happy birthday, Mr President” for a spin.

A Jared Leto drama ensued, when fashion’s “mystery man” Fredrik Robertsson arrived in a dramatic number reminiscent of Leto’s experimental outfits of past red carpets and was briefly mistaken for the actor.

And an engagement rounded off the night, when NYC cultural affairs commissioner Laurie Cumbo accepted a proposal from her partner Bobby Digi Olisa. The Metropolitan Museum of Art called in “an amazing moment on an amazing night”.

If you haven’t been tuning into the blog, you can read our wrap of the night here:

And view the night in pictures here:

Updated

And as the 2022 Met Gala looks slow down for the night, New York City’s commissioner of cultural affairs Laurie Cumbo has said yes in a dress.

Updated

Actor Michelle Yeoh walks the carpet as the muse of US designer Prabal Gurung in a green off-the-shoulder gown.

Updated

Korean-American singer Johnny Suh wearing Peter Do has sent the Twitterverse into hysterics.

Updated

Thank you, Lenny Kravitz.

Kris Jenner is fitting the first lady theme.

Her one-shoulder yellow ensemble resembles a light green dress worn by Jacqueline Kennedy on a visit to Cambodia in 1967.

People in the Twitterverse are also drawing a parallel between Jenner’s dress and the queen, Clarisse Renaldi from The Princess Diaries.

Updated

Alicia Keys references New York City in her Ralph Lauren cape, bedazzled with a rhinestone skyline.

Alicia Keys
Alicia Keys. Photograph: Andrew Kelly/Reuters

Updated

Cardi B in chains

US rapper Cardi B walks the red carpet with designer Donatella Versace in a gown made from almost a kilometre of gold chains.

Donatella Versace and Cardi B
Donatella Versace and Cardi B. Photograph: Andrew Kelly/Reuters
Cardi B faces the cameras.
Cardi B faces the cameras. Photograph: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Emily Ratajkowski in vintage Versace.

Cara Delevingne goes for gold

Cara Delevingne wears a silk red suit, ditching the blazer to reveal her body painted in gold. Seems she took “gilded” completely literally.

Cara Delevingne
Cara Delevingne. Photograph: Matt Baron/Rex/Shutterstock
Cara Delevingne
A cane completes the ensemble. Photograph: David Fisher/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

Olivia Rodrigo is draped in shimmering purple Versace.

The king has finally arrived!

Kendall Jenner reveals bleached brows with a trailing black gown by Prada.

Kendall Jenner
Kendall Jenner. Photograph: David Fisher/Rex/Shutterstock
Her train
Her train. Photograph: Andrew Kelly/Reuters

Updated

Here is Kylie Jenner’s ensemble by the late Virgil Abloh, founder of Off White.

Abloh was a pioneer - the first African American man to helm a luxury fashion house. You can read Vogue’s tribute to the designer here.

Kylie Jenner
Kylie Jenner arrives. Photograph: Andrew Kelly/Reuters
Her look in full
Her look in full. Photograph: John Shearer/Getty Images

Updated

So, Kylie Jenner is being dragged for her wedding dress/day at the races/backwards baseball cap ensemble.

Updated

Kim Kardashian in Marilyn Monroe's gown

Kim Kardashian has worn the dress Marilyn Monroe wore to sing “Happy birthday, Mr President” to JFK. (Yes, it is the real one.)

Though it was only worn for few minutes on the carpet before Kardashian changed, this is the first time someone other than Monroe has donned the multimillion-dollar crystal-embellished gown designed by Jean Louis (based on a sketch by Bob Mackie). Usually it is stored in a temperature-controlled vault.

This post was amended on 2 May 2022 to credit Jean Louis as the designer of the gown worn by Monroe and Kardashian.

Updated

Lizzie McGuire from 2003 ... the Met Gala needs you.

Updated

Gigi Hadid is Henry VIII and all his wives at once.

The gown’s deep wine colour, corset and padded train hark back to Cardi B’s “red couch” look at the 2019 Met Gala.

Updated

Jessie Buckley in a moustache!

Jessie Buckley
Irish actor and singer Jessie Buckley. Photograph: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Updated

Ben Platt dons a corset

Ben Platt in a corset, looking cinched and fabulous.

Updated

Lizzo unveils her look

Lizzo up close is something else. Look at all that gilded embroidery.

Updated

To add further confusion in the Jared Leto saga, the real Jared Leto has arrived ... in double. Twinning with Gucci designer Alessandro Michele – we may never know which beard is which.

Updated

Fashion’s mystery man – upon first glance mistaken for the experimental Jared Leto – in fact has a name.

He is Fredrik Robertsson and has arrived serving majestic fish gills in an Iris van Herpen ensemble.

Updated

This is not Jared Leto

Apparently this is not (I repeat not) Jared Leto.

Updated

Lady Whistledown herself has arrived.

Penelope Featherington (AKA Nicola Coughlan) lives up to her character’s name and gets the period on point in a Richard Quinn gown with a sweetheart neckline, super-cinched waist and all.

Nicola Coughlan
Nicola Coughlan. Photograph: Mike Coppola/Getty Images

Updated

Somebody give Stormzy a title, because he has gone full count.

Updated

Do you have pockets with that?

Sarah Jessica Parker, refusing to abandon all sense of practicality, insists on pockets to go with her corset and fascinator.

Updated

Kodi Smit-McPhee does denim

Fun fact about Kodi Smit-McPhee’s fit: his jeans are period-appropriate.

Guardian Australia’s lifestyle editor Alyx Gorman tells us more:

Levis Strauss patented the copper rivet (to secure denim buttons) in 1873 and in 1890 it went into the public domain, meaning anyone could make durable jeans.

They were particularly popular with California goldminers.

Kodi Smit-McPhee
Kodi Smit-McPhee on the red carpet. Photograph: Mike Coppola/Getty Images

Updated

Billie Eilish takes a bow

Billie Eilish arrives, in layers of green lace, black ribbon and a silky corset gown.

Billie Eilish
Billie Eilish shows off her bling. Photograph: David Fisher/Rex/Shutterstock
Billie Eilish from the back
All bustled up. Photograph: Erik Pendzich/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

Cynthia Erivo is wearing a drop-waist Louis Vitton ensemble of feathers, lace and a towering headdress.

Tessa Thompson in Iris van Herpen is Romy and Michelle at the front, Disney princess at the back.

Updated

Sigourney Weaver, arriving on the red carpet with designer Michael Kors, tells Vogue:

When I think of the gilded age I think of women as being so encased ... but these wonderful gowns [today] have freedom. When I look at these women’s tight gowns I know what they want is to take off their corsets and get the vote.

Sigourney Weaver and Michael Kors arrive arm in arm
Sigourney Weaver and Michael Kors arrive arm in arm. Photograph: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue

Updated

Hillary Clinton hails 60 admirable women

Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton returns to the Met Gala after 21 years wearing a custom wine-coloured gown by Joseph Altuzarra.

The design pays homage to the “friendship quilt”, popular in the US from the late 1800s, when people signed their names on blankets to mark a special occasion.

The hem of Clinton’s dress is stitched with the names of 60 women she admires. Among them are Rosa Parks and Lady Bird Johnson.

Hillary Clinton arrives
Hillary Clinton arrives. Photograph: John Shearer/Getty Images

Updated

US singer-songwriter Teyana Taylor and model Winnie Harlow arrive looking ethereal.

Updated

Across Twitter, people are comparing Shawn Mendes in a dapper navy and burgundy coat to Dr Strange and Mr Darcy.

I personally think he looks closer to a viscount from Bridgerton.

Model Genesis Suero sports a princess neckline and puffy sleeves.

Updated

Model Alton Mason, bedazzled in a Prada cape, tells GQ Magazine:

“I feel magical. I feel powerful. I feel strong.”

Somebody send an invite to Ashley Tisdale, please.

Updated

Eagerly awaiting arrival of Shrek and Fiona on the carpet:

Updated

Riz Ahmed's homage to the gilded age's immigrant workers

In knee-high boots and a stiff shirt, British actor and rapper Riz Ahmed makes a poignant statement.

Updated

The men of the Met …

Though the men of the Met sometimes bore, Guardian Australia reporter Calla Wahlquist breaks down why that may just work for this year’s theme.

Male attendees at the Met Gala often skip on participating in the theme, on the grounds that the biggest risk of wearing a well-cut black tux is you might bore fashion bloggers to death.

This year, however, there is some hope. The gilded age is one of the easier themes to nod to, without fully committing. Men in the late 19th century were still predominantly wearing suits, and breeches had given way to trousers.

The trick is the length. The two most popular cuts of the era were the morning coat, a single-breasted coat with a cutaway front and tails, designed to keep out of the way when riding horses, and an evening coat, which had much the same cut but was often double-breasted. The dinner jacket was introduced in the late Victorian era. It didn’t have tails but still fell to the tops of the thighs. Most suits were in black, brown or grey. Waistcoats were where risks were taken.

So Met Gala co-chair Tom Ford’s fairly sedate tuxedo is on theme.

Tom Ford
Tom Ford on the red carpet. Photograph: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

As is Lin-Manuel Miranda, another co-chair.

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Vanessa Nadal
Actor and film-maker Lin-Manuel Miranda with his wife, Vanessa Nadal. Photograph: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images

Ben Winston, the producer of The Late Late Show with James Cordon, offers a subtle take.

Ben Winston and Meredith Winston
Ben Winston with his wife, Meredith Winston. Photograph: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images

While Vogue’s creative editorial director, Mark Guiducci, has a bolder take on the theme.

Mark Guiducci
Mark Guiducci arrives. Photograph: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Updated

Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner’s future baby is getting a first Met Gala in early.

Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner
Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner. Photograph: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Updated

US rapper Anderson .Paak is having so much fun with this look:

Anderson .Paak arrives on the red carpet
Anderson .Paak arrives on the red carpet. Photograph: Arturo Holmes/MG22/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue

Updated

Blake Lively's 'quick change'

Ryan Reynold’s face as Blake Lively unveils a pastel blue train beneath bronze folds of fabric is all of us right now.

Updated

Blake Lively hits the mark every time.

Actor Kieran Culkin arrives in ... Converse and sunglasses?

Speaking of padded bustles worn under gowns for volume, the back of Blake Lively’s dress is a wonder.

Co-Chairs Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively attend the 2022 Met Gala
Co-Chairs Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively attend the 2022 Met Gala Photograph: Matt Winkelmeyer/MG22/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue

Updated

Theatre producer Jordan Roth has given his bustle an industrial goth makeover, and brought it along as his date.

That padding you see is historically accurate in spirit, if not in form. The padded humps of bustles used to be stuffed with horse hair.

Jordan Roth wins.

Jordan Roth alongside his bustle
Jordan Roth alongside his bustle … Photograph: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue
Jordan Roth
… and united. Photograph: John Shearer/Getty Images

Updated

Photographer and director Autumn de Wilde takes gilded as a palette rather than a period.

She looks comfortable, fun, and is making a better case for bringing the dress-over-trousers look back than most of the TikTokers who’ve been championing a return to Y2K.

Also, canes are an underrated accessory.

Autumn de Wilde arrives at the 2022 Met Gala
Autumn de Wilde arrives. Photograph: Kevin Mazur/MG22/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue

Updated

What is the Met Gala? A quick explainer

For those of us who may not be full-time material girls, Guardian Australia’s lifestyle editor Alyx Gorman explains what exactly the Met Gala is.

The nickname ‘the Oscars of fashion’ can be a bit confusing – the Met Gala isn’t an award ceremony; it’s a fundraising dinner. A single ticket to the event costs about $35,000, with tables going for hundreds of thousands. The money goes towards the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute, which houses an archive of more than 30,000 wearable artefacts, spanning over seven centuries – which, if you’ve ever tried to keep moths out of a cupboard of knits, you’ll know requires a fair bit of upkeep.

As for the party itself, it has been going since 1948. Originally it was a fairly low-key fundraiser, but when legendary editor Diana Vreeland began consulting for the Costume Institute, she brought a stack of celebrities along to the gala, and they’ve been coming every year since.

Now it has a reputation for being the event where fashion designers can dress celebrities, models and lately (to ever-diminishing scandal) influencers in the wildest possible versions of their outfits; with tables usually paid for by brands, businesses and benefactors (although there are a few captain’s pick tickets handed out each year to keep things interesting).

All of which is to say: the Met Gala is a huge red carpet, with nothing at the end of it (except more clothes).

Updated

Janelle Monae is draped (quite literally) from head to toe in shimmering silver and black.

Janelle Monae arrives at the Met Gala
Janelle Monae arrives at the Met Gala. Photograph: Andrew Kelly/Reuters

Updated

Sebastian Stan in hot pink appears to be emulating early-career Elton John.

WOW!

Actor Cynthia Erivo arrives in a gown with a lace drop waist.

Though it speaks more to the early 1900s, Erivo is still serving up a look closer to the gilded age decade than most so far.

Updated

Panniers v bustles

Time for the (gilded) age-old question: what is the difference between panniers and bustles?

Guardian Australia lifestyle editor Alyx Gorman explains:

So, there are several varieties of Big Skirt we’re likely to see today. The pannier, like Gemma Chan’s has most of its volume at the side, and tends to be made of a series of both horizontal and vertically positioned hoops to give it girth (imagine a hula hooper with hoops spinning around her arms and waist, then tuck it under a skirt). Meanwhile, the 19th century crinoline tends to be made from only horizontally positioned hoops, sewn down the length of a skirt at different sizes, to give it shape (imagine a hula hooper spinning three hoops around her hips, knees and ankles).

Gemma Chan departs the Mark Hotel
Gemma Chan departs the Mark Hotel. Photograph: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

Meanwhile the bustle, which can be worn in addition to a crinoline, gives the majority of its volume at the back of the garment. It can have structural features like tulle to help contribute volume, or it can be made of layers, and layers and layers of fabric (imagine a 1960s beehive with lots of teasing).

Bustles tended to be worn over the top of a woman’s skirt, while panniers and crinolines were undergarments.

Updated

Note for the fashion historians: Bridgerton-esque princess necklines and pastels fall into the Regency era – not the way to go for this year’s gilded age theme.

Updated

When we hear ‘Gilded Glamor’ we want it all: puffy sleeves, billowing skirts and padded bustles.

Finally, a bustle has been served up. Underneath a tuxedo.

Updated

Gemma Chan’s look screams Versailles over Upper East Side.

It has everything you want from a Met Gala look: big, eccentric and dazzling with beads and crystals.

Gemma Chan departs for the Met Gala from the Mark Hotel in New York
Gemma Chan departs for the Met Gala from the Mark Hotel in New York. Photograph: Broadimage/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

That dress deserves another look – Lively really has gone all-in:

Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively make an impact

Gala co-chairs Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively have made their entrance.

Lively strikes again, owning Gilded Glamor in gloves, a tiara, and a billowing train.

2022 Met Gala co-chairs Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively
2022 Met Gala co-chairs Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively. Photograph: Mike Coppola/Getty Images

Updated

Updated

Fashion’s royal couple have arrived arm in arm.

Anna Wintour’s daughter Bee Carrozzini is dressed in black lace beside partner Francesco Carrozzini, son of late Vogue Italia editor Franca Sozzani.

Francesco and Bee Carrozzini arrive
Francesco and Bee Carrozzini arrive. Photograph: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue

Updated

Anna Wintour arrives

Queen Anna Wintour has arrived (tiara and all).

Global chief content officer of Condé Nast, and global editor director of Vogue, Wintour has been hosting the Met Gala for almost 30 years.

Anna Wintour waves
Anna Wintour at the 2022 Met Gala. Photograph: Erik Pendzich/Rex/Shutterstock
Anna Wintour
Wintour’s look in full. Photograph: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Updated

We keenly await the arrival of the best-dressed men of the Met.

In the meantime, let us take a moment to remember US rapper Lil Nas X pulling a Gaga on last year’s red carpet, in a three-piece gold Versace strip-down.

Lil Nas X at the 2021 Met Gala
Lil Nas X at the 2021 Met Gala. Composite: Mike Coppola/Getty Images/Rex

Updated

A lady in red

Actor and TV personality La La Anthony – who’s hosting Vogue’s live stream, along with its editor-at-large Hamish Bowles and actor and singer Vanessa Hudgens – has arrived in a deep burgundy silk situation that is truly something to behold.

Extra points for the jaunty hat.

La La Anthony attends the 2022 Met Gala
La La Anthony attends the 2022 Met Gala. Photograph: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for the Met Museum/Vogue

Updated

Sheer black and lace may be turning Gilded Glamor gothic as this year’s first red carpet trend.

Actor Vanessa Hudgens arrives draped in Moschino, and Bridgerton diamond Phoebe Dynevor in Louis Vuitton.

Updated

For updates straight from the source, give Vogue Magazine’s Met Gala red carpet Twitter thread a gander.

You can check it out here:

Getting ready

It’s the first Monday in May (or Tuesday morning, if you’re reading this from Australia), and the 2022 Met Gala – AKA fashion’s Oscars – is about to begin.

Marking the opening of the In America: An Anthology of Fashion exhibition, 2022 guests are dressing to the theme of “Gilded Glamor” (which hasn’t been uncontroversial, with some calling it “out of touch” amid worsening inflation in the US).

Hosting this year’s event are Regina King, Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and Lin-Manuel Miranda – with Tom Ford, Adam Mosseri, and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour as honorary co-chairs.

Things kick off at 6pm ET (8am AEST, or 11pm EST), and it’s being streamed live on Vogue. But you can follow all the best moments – sartorial and otherwise – here.

Let’s go.

Updated

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