Following a serious raising of Monday Night's Met Gala game, it's tempting to conclude that stern words had been exchanged in the weeks leading up to the ball. Many stern words.
We already know that Anna Wintour, chair of the Gala, is said to vet every celebrity and every outfit that appears on the red carpet there. We also know that Tom Ford, a repeat co-host of the event, did not approve of the Halloween style costumes to which desperate-for-attention guests had, in recent years, increasingly resorted. He has gone on record saying as much in Anna, a forensic new book that Amy Odell has penned about Wintour. The gist of Ford's lament is that where once the evening could be relied on to supply a procession of the chicest outfits, now it's a freak show.
He wasn't wrong. Remember Kim Kardashian's head to toe balaclava last September when the Gala was temporarily moved from its usual May slot because of the pandemic? She had to be walkie-talkied to her limo afterwards because this most dedicated follower couldn't see through her face covering. The time (2019) that Katy Perry dressed as a chandelier wasn't a standout moment of grown up wisdom either.
None of that nonsense in 2022 – or rather a different kind of nonsense, and much of it confined to the male of the species, so that's alright then. For the most part, the female guests looked astonishingly polished and glamorous. Not even the Oscars delivered this amount of corsetry, elbow-length gloves, trains and sheer commitment to elegance. Kim Kardashian for instance, reputedly shed 16lbs to ensure she poured into rather than spilled over Marilyn Monroe's shimmering vintage gown. Now that, rather than wearing a bodysuit reminiscent of a Marcel Marceau mime tribute act, is dedication. Elsewhere, there were taffeta caped back dresses (Michelle Yeoh, the 59-year-old Malaysian superstar, wore a mint green one designed by Prabal Gurung, with the additional hazard of a fishtail hem, which is Olympic level red carpet dressing). And tiaras. Anna Wintour wore one with her caped dress, as did her global editor-at-large Hamish Bowles, now also editor at the World of Interiors. Forget twinning pinky rings. From now on, let us all wear matchy matchy crowns.
Separating the dress code of the gala from the theme of the fashion exhibition to which it is attached (although from the attention the gala gets you'd think it was the other way round) clearly raised the bar. In previous years, exhorting guests to take sartorial inspiration from exhibitions with themes such as 2019's Notes on Camp or 2013's Punk: Chaos to Couture always ended one way: with someone wearing a hamburger and many others looking like eejits.
So, separation = good. While this year's exhibition theme is In America: An Anthology of Fashion (no one can accuse the Metropolitan's fashion curators of not taking themselves and their exhibition titles very, very seriously), the dress code was 'Gilded Glamour and White Tie'. With The Gilded Age, Julian Fellowes' lush series set in the 1880s, all over HBO, guests had what amounts to a multi-million dollar mood board to inspire them.
And credit where it's due, many rose impressively to the challenge, particularly the midlifers. From Tom Ford, 60, back as a co-host, in his white tie and tails to 61-year-old Julianne Moore in a Tom Ford designed ivory strapless dress and matching opera gloves, which she accessorised with a silver clutch and a sweep of waved hair, midlifers are the ones who know how to make classic Hollywood glamour look, if not effortless, then worth the effort. Witness 57-year-old Sarah Jessica Parker, a woman who can make practically anything look fabulous, in a stripy puff ball and a Philip Treacy bon-bon of feathers perched on her head.
How good too, to see Glenn Close, 75, and Christine Baranski, 70, rocking fabulous trouser suits. Close chose a beaded fuchsia Valentino cloak and matching blouse and trousers that complemented her sweep of silver hair to perfection. Baranski went for black and white. Maye Musk is another septuagenarian who never fails to look sleek while pushing fashion boundaries – even when her main accessory is her son, Elon. Her abseilable cheekbones undoubtedly help but her poise is in no small part thanks to her posture and flawless hair and makeup. It's somehow joyous too, to see Gwen Stefani, still as polished and rebellious at 52, in a neon green cloud of silk.
Polish really is the key here. Fine for 23-year-old Daisy Edgar-Jones to float ethereally down the red carpet with artfully undone hair (and I do mean artful; her tresses were tended to by George Northwood, who is king of gorgeously carefree hairdos). But after 40, we need all the grooming we can get, provided – important caveat – it's served with a light hand. Edgar-Jones was among a generous handful of Brits who did us proud sartorially, including Carey Mulligan in a black and gold Schiaparelli strapless column dress and Lucy Boynton in frothy Chanel and an adorable blonde bob. Meanwhile, Lily James' journey from English Rose to Hot Global Property seems just about complete now that she's a go to muse for Versace. This particular grey beaded, semi sheer, skintight Versace sheath even managed to inspire a thoroughly un-English Rose social media debate about the precise nature of the shadow in what the Dowager Countess Crawley would almost certainly never call James's crotch area.
Strangely, for an event at which tiaras and crinolines are a baseline, the less-is-more lesson seems to have been received loud and clear in 2022. Yes I know Kris Jenner, 66, looked as though she'd smashed and grabbed Charlotte Tilbury's heavy contouring makeup department in its entirety. But contouring is a family trademark after all and this being the Kardashians, they probably literally tried to trademark it. For a woman not previously known for subtlety, this was a remarkably classy act. In her pale lemon one-shouldered, gold-dipped Oscar de la Renta, she achieved what the accompanying press release (don't you issue one of those when you've been anywhere?) said she'd set out to do: pay homage to Jackie Kennedy. Full marks too for her longer, flip-ended bob, which is so flattering on cheekbones and jawlines.
Jenner wasn't the only one who appeared to have been swatting up on The Art of The Underdo. Everywhere you look there are gleaming examples of Tissot and Whistler portraits brought to life. Surely that's as uplifting as it's faintly ridiculous. So while I understand why there's more of an onslaught than ever of critics bemoaning the Gala's very existence, especially when the rest of the world is clearly going to hell in a clapped-out handcart, I feel the opposite. The Met Gala, which I've often found irritating and irrelevant, has finally delivered the only thing we needed it to at this moment: unabashed glamour.
While you enjoy a long weekend break, catch up on some of the best stories of 2025 so far.