Along with the Cannes Film Festival, this is one of the most popular fashion shows on the planet: the world of celebrities and fashion will be at the Metropolitan Museum Gala in New York on Monday night, May 2, an extravagant parade of stars for a philanthropic evening, after two editions disrupted by the pandemic.

The famous Met Gala will again give rise to a flood of images of stars dressed by major brands, in chic, glamorous, unlikely or carrying political messages, on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The 2022 dress code of this most selective party on the planet? “Gilded glamour”, words that refer to the “Gilded Age”, the American golden age of the late nineteenth century.

After the 2021 edition was moved to September due to the pandemic – after a total cancellation in 2020 – the show was performed by the American singer Billie Eilish, transformed into Marilyn Monroe with platinum blonde hair and a peach-coloured Oscar de la Renta train dress.

The star of the American left Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had also caused a sensation with her ivory dress, designed by the Brooklyn designer Aurora James, crossed with red letters to form the words “Tax the rich”.

We are in the heart of American philanthropy, the evening, which takes place on the first Monday of May, is intended to fund the fashion department of the Metropolitan Museum (The Costume Institute) and coincides with its great annual exhibition, presented in the morning to the press before the wife of the President of the United States, Jill Biden. This year’s exhibition is an “Anthology of American Fashion”, a retrospective that starts in the 19th century.

But to have a chance to toast with stars such as artists Beyoncé, Justin Bieber or Lil Nas X, the poet Amanda Gorman, the YouTuber Emma Chamberlain, the Williams sisters, Sharon Stone and even Elon Musk, you have to have your invitation validated by the high priestess of the event, the editor in chief of Vogue Anna Wintour.

A formality for Rihanna, whose fans are hoping for an appearance with her rounded belly of the mother-to-be.

The ticket is expensive: 35,000 USD for a seat at the dinner, 200,000 to 300,000 USD for a table paid by a patron, according to unofficial figures of 2021. The total cost is estimated to be more than $16 million.

The event takes place while journalists and editors of Vogue and other titles of the Condé Nast group (GQ, Vanity Fair, Glamour etc.) have launched a movement to create a union, which they reminded on social networks with a pastiche of Vogue cover: “Met Gala 2022 the longest night of workers”.

During this event, all the eccentricities are possible. In 2019, the singer and actor Billy Porter appeared as a sun god, spreading golden wings and carried by men with muscular torsos.

But who will match Lady Gaga and her striptease started in a wide fuchsia dress and finished in black lingerie, lying on the steps?

Created in 1948, the gala has long been reserved for the very high society of New York, but Anna Wintour, who took it in hand in 1995, has transformed it into a “people” event adapted to the era of social networks. This year, the title of honorary co-chairman was offered to the boss of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, alongside Anna Wintour and the designer Tom Ford.

The evening itself is co-chaired by a quartet of stars: a couple of actors Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, the Oscar-winning actress Regina King and the actor and musician Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the great Broadway hit, Hamilton, and author of several music at Disney.