The met gala, which is an annual fundraising gala held for the benefit of the Metropolitan
Museum of Art has become one of the biggest fashion events over time.
Year after year, you see celebrities walking the stairs up to the gala, is some of the
most beautiful, iconic, and lets face it downright weird dresses.
I mean we all remember the 2019 theme of Camp right.
But this year, the theme for 2022, was Gilded Glamour, and we saw a lot of celebrities in
beautifully created dresses walk the carpet.
From Kim Kardashian who wore the exact dress worn by Marilyn Monroe to Billie Eilish who
was applauded as one of the best representations of the theme.
We got a night filled with some amazing attired.
But some of these designs were actually an ode to and inspired by Architecture.
So welcome to Blessedarch and today In this video we will look at a few dresses of the
met gala and their connection to architecture.
Can’t wait.
Love you.
Bye Now before we dive deep into the dresses,
lets put 60 seconds on the clock to talk about the theme of the night.
gilded glamour.
The theme here refers to the gilded age which was a 30-year period at the end of the 19th-century
that saw skyrocketing wealth for industrialist families in the US and over-the-top fashion
for New York City's upper class.
Basically this was the time the rich got really rich and one of the ways they showcased their
wealth was through fashion.
In this era you saw the most opulent, abundant, and frankly a little over the top attires.
It was as if each one was trying to better the other in trying to be the unique, the
most rare, the most luxurious.
Just a side note this was also the time that saw one of the most rapid increases in wealth
gap in the society.
We can go on and on about this age, but our time is almost up.
So lets come back to the 21st century, to 2nd May 2022 and look at a few dresses that
were inspired by Architecture.
One of the best and universally loved dresses of the night was that of Blake lively.
She and Ryan Reynolds were the co-hosts of the met gala this year.
She arrived at the venue with this copper coloured dress folded up and tied in a neat
bow.
As she escalated up the stairs, her bow was released to reveal A long skirt in an aged
copper tone.
This stunning attire was actually inspired by the Statue of Liberty and how it has aged
over time.
When it was first gifted to the US, the statue was a shiny brown colour, the same as that
of a penny.
Over time it has oxidized into what it is today.
And Blake’s dress was a beautiful rendition of this change.
But it wasn’t just the statue of liberty that gave her the inspirations.
The patterns on her dress were inspired by the art Deco shapes and patterns of Empire
State building.
And there were also painted on the dress the constellations from the grand central station
in new York.
For those of you who don’t know the constellations is a mural on the ceiling of the grand central
station which was painted in 1913.
Also fun fact the constellations there are actually wrong because the whole image was
inverted as it was painted, turning east to west and vice versa.
Anyway hints of these were on Blake dress.
And to finish off the attire was ofcourse the tiara which I will let blake explain.
And then my crown has seven spikes because the statue of liberty she has seven spikes
representing the seven seas and the seven continents which represents inclusivity, welcomeness
and freedom so I thought and she has 25 windows so I was like Loraine can you put 25 stones.
She’s like who is gonna be counting the stones, I was like me, I’m a virgo.
By the way One of the best videos of the night that went completely viral was when Ryan Reynolds
saw the dress and clapped for his wife.
Okay next up is the dress by Alicia Keys.
She wore a Ralph Lauren dress and a cape adorned with thousands of crystals forming the New
York City skyline.
Alicia being born and raised in New York wanted to pay homage to the city.
Unlike Blake whose dress took inspirations from different structures in the city and
abstracted them onto the dress, Alicia’s approach was more direct.
200000 crystals were used to create a skyline of the city on her cape, creating a shining
glittering homage to NYC during the gilded age.
Next up is a look that both seems to fit into the gilded age and the 23rd century.
And this was the attire worn by Fredrik Robertsson.
This futuristic attire was made with recycled mylar was used to create a delicate feather-like
shape that radiated from his shoulders and legs.
The individual quills were hand sewn onto the pants and the sheer tulle top.
He also said that this dress had actually been inspired by architecture.
Now we didn’t get much explanation beyond that but I think dress was inspired by the
new age architectural exploration into form and parametricism.
I became sure of this when I found out that this dress was designed by none other than
Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen.
Over the years has stunned the world with some great and inspired pieces.
She had even collaborated with Architect Neri Oxamn to create a 3D printed dress.
And over time she has revealed that she gets inspired by different things including architecture.
And she did not design one, but two dresses that were worn that night.
Dove Cameron too wore a dress designed by Iris.
This dress called the Spiral Nebula gown took more than 600 hours to bring to life and it
is constructed of recycled mylar.
It’s sculptural yet flowy, with lines that branch out from Iris’s arms and legs.
During the design process.
Iris came up with several different sketches for her potential look.
This one as Dove said played well into the theme of ‘Gilded Age’.
I am not completely sure if both these design perfectly fit into the theme of gilded glamour,
but it surely dares to explore and push the theme into new territories.
And those were the dresses that had architectural inspirations at the met gala.
Ofcourse the rest of the gala was studded with stars and designs that the world was
eagerly both loving and hating on.
What were your thoughts on the night and the theme.
Also what did you think of these dresses let me know in the comments below.
As always don’t forget to Like, share and subscribe to the channel, I will see you guys
soon with more such videos.