For gilded glamour, I studied up as much as I could and the most helpful resource for me was Cora Harrington, the writer behind The Lingerie Addict and author of In Intimate Detail: How to Choose, Wear and Love Lingerie. She has a deep understanding of historical fashion and is able to relay the spirit of the theme, separating it out from other eras and trends.
Here’s part of her explainer (read the whole thread if you have a moment):
Sidebar to talk about Gilded Age aesthetics and things I was hoping to see. By now, we all know The Gilded Age was circa 1870-1900. It is exemplified by ostentatious wealth and conspicuous consumption turned up to 11. Basically, what The Met Gala is.
— Cora Harrington (@CoraCHarrington) May 2, 2022
And there are lots of ways to achieve that vibe, that look, even if we’re not doing bustles and princess lines and hourglass corsets. The point is subtlety and lackadaisicalness is not the way.
— Cora Harrington (@CoraCHarrington) May 2, 2022
With her expert notes, I’m looking for sumptuousness, glamour, excess, and grandness. A vibe.
Amy Schumer went with a vibe and that vibe was “I’m a conscientious objector.” Her coat dress (by Gabriella Hearst for Chloe) on any other red carpet would be quite stylish but on this red carpet, it feels like she’s opting out of fashion. Ignoring the theme isn’t a necessarily a problem; the Olsens (I miss them so much!) ignore it every time they attend, but not to be defiant. They ignore it because they have so much personal style they won’t bend to the theme. I have a hunch Amy Schumer ignored the dress code to be defiant and, when asked about this event in the future, will say she hates fashion and it’s all dumb so that’s why she wore it. When Lala Anthony asked her what gilded glamour meant to her, she responded, “Um, a vibrator - you know what I’m gonna say - it’s ridiculous.” Why did she waste her time and a seat at the designer’s table? To tell us how much she, a very famous and successful person, doesn’t belong at the Met Gala?
And there was more: she was with Xiye Bastida, an Indigenous Mexican-Chilean climate activist but because the Met Gala has no traditional red carpet the messaging around Bastida and her work was completely muddied. Twitter was confused. The first headlines out of an event like this are important and PEOPLE, the Independent, Daily Mail had no mention of Bastida and Vogue’s video of Emma Chamberlain interviewing Amy and Xiye was… well, watch it for yourself if you can.
Onto another woman in black and wearing sunglasses. Some people on social media expressed disappointment that Christine Baranski, who stars in The Gilded Age, didn’t dress like her character, but this Thom Browne look is very chic and very opulent. The sequined cape, the bow tie, the corset – it looks rich in every way. It took 250 hours to create and she wore it on her 70th birthday. That is glamorous.