The biggest night in fashion is back ... again!

The Met Gala is here for 2022 just eight short months after we kinda sorta saw Kim Kardashian in her infamous all-black look at the Met Gala in 2021 .

Vogue s annual fashion extravaganza at the Metropolitan Museum of Art has traditionally taken place during the first Monday in May. But thanks to COVID, last years fashion fete got bumped from spring to September. So if you thought you were partaking in the great pandemic tradition of questioning your sense of time, dont worry. Youre fine.

But if youre wondering about the theme of Monday nights event, be prepared to be perplexed once more.

The theme this year is In America: An Anthology of Fashion, which is a sequel to last years theme, In America: A Lexicon of Fashion. People described the dress code as white-tie with an emphasis on Gilded Glamour.

The Gilded Age was a tumultuous period between the Civil War and the turn of the 20th century that was known for robber barons, drama and grandeur. It was also a time of social inequality , in which a small population of elite folks enjoyed oodles of wealth. Think: John D. Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt and J.P. Morgan and Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon) and her fabulous, over-the-top hats in HBOs The Gilded Age.

There werent a ton of hats at the 2022 Met Gala, but there were plenty of capes, bodices and dramatic colors, plus a pirate of two (were looking at you, Shawn Mendes and Lenny Kravitz) and what appeared to be, uh, gilded pasties (see: Cara Delevingne).

Kim Kardashian s nod to America of yore was sporting the iconic dress Marilyn Monroe wore to sing Happy Birthday to President John F. Kennedy. The reality star didnt quite nail Monroes signature hairdo, opting instead for a slicked-back look.