BY SORAYA REZAL

The highly anticipated 2022 Met Gala took place on May 2, embracing its theme for this year;  In America: An Anthology of Fashion.

Following last year’s theme, In America: A Lexicon of Fashion, the gala continued to celebrate American fashion. 

The dress code for the red carpet event this year was gilded glamour, white-tie, which is a reference to the Gilded Age New York era between 1870 to 1890.

Despite its high fashion-focus, the Met Gala has broader impact.

Fashion Journal  Digital Editor Cait Emma Burke said the Met Gala had an influence on the trend cycle and, ultimately, the way people think about fashion. 

“The way the trend cycle works, we’re still sort of obsessed with celebrity culture, that this stuff has a way of filtering down and eventually ending up in H&M or Glassons or wherever - in a modified version, obviously,” Ms Burke said.

Although, unlike many other publications in Australia, Fashion Journal has chosen not to cover the Met Gala as its main focus is to continue to highlight Australian fashion.

“It feels overwhelming at times that every single publication is reporting on it,” Ms Burke said.

“We just consciously decided to create a space where we don’t need to comment on it because we’re really focusing on nurturing and growing the Australian audience”. 

Founder of AEW Studios and Master of Art Curatorship student Astrid Woronczak says the Met Gala serves as a reminder that fashion influences art.

“Not only can garments function as an ode to the past, but can also serve as commentary on lived experiences,” Ms Woronczak said.

“At the end of the day, the Met Gala has an unattainable energy to it, for young designers and spectators alike, being some form of a social playground for the rich and famous”.

Dubbed “fashion’s biggest night out”, the Met Gala acts as a fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute prior to the opening of its annual exhibition. 

This year’s red carpet event, followed by the exhibition, will be the second instalment of the two-part exhibition which was first launched in September 2021.

According to Vogue, the event raises up to eight-figure sums each year.

After last year’s event, the expectations for the 2022 Met Gala is set even higher.

Ms Woronczak would like to see a collaboration between established and emerging American designers at this year’s event.

“A continuing focus on moving away from a Eurocentric representation of American fashion should remain a priority for the organisers,” she said.

Ms Burke, on the other hand, is expecting the designs of under-represented or overlooked designers on the red carpet this year.

“The political, social and cultural issues that we’re all talking about a lot, I think they’re going to be explored in a much more bold way in this instalment of the theme,” she said.

The 2022 Met Gala was held on Monday May 2 in New York City, and will be followed by the opening of the exhibition on May 5.