The dress code for this year's Met Gala is gilded glamour. Here's what that means.

• The Met Gala 2022 theme is "In America: An Anthology of Fashion."
• The event will celebrate the history of American fashion.

The Met Gala will finally take place on the first Monday in May again, with the 2022 event scheduled for Monday, May 2.

The 2022 theme is "In America: An Anthology of Fashion," as Vogue reported, and it will be co-chaired by Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Anna Wintour, designer Tom Ford, and the head of Instagram Adam Mosseri are the honorary co-chairs, as the outlet reported.

According to Vogue, the theme will celebrate the history of American fashion.

The curator of the Museum of Modern Art's Costume Institute, Andrew Bolton, told Vogue the 2022 theme "provides a historical context" for the 2021 gala, "In America: A Lexicon of Fashion," part one of the two-part Costume Institute installation that the 2021 and 2022 galas are celebrating.

Although the theme sets the tone for the night, it is the dress code listed on the bottom of the invitations that indicates what the Met Gala's influential guests will wear to fashion's biggest night.

According to Vogue, the dress code for the gala is "gilded glamour, white tie," so famous attendees will likely be pulling out all the stops for their red-carpet looks.

"Gilded glamour" specifically points to the period of the Gilded Age of New York, 1870 to 1890, during which the upper class had a more-is-more approach to fashion, in part because technological developments made it easier to buy more clothes than ever before, as Vogue reported.

Women's clothes in particular were extravagant during that period, according to the outlet. They were brightly colored, used multiple fabrics, and were often paired with dramatic accessories like feathered hats.

Vogue also noted that the formal events of the day, like the Opera, had very particular dress codes that required women to wear tulle gowns that exposed their cleavage and sport white gloves, while men had to wear top hats.

But the wealthy also had over-the-top costume parties during the Gilded Age of New York, according to Vogue, which Met Gala attendees could also use as inspiration.

It was not clear at the time of writing how celebrities would interpret the 2022 Met Gala dress code, but it's safe to assume the outfits will be markedly different from those seen at the 2021 gala.

The 2021 Met Gala's dress code was simply "American Independence," which led to out-of-the-box ensembles like Kim Kardashian's face-covering look and many outfits inspired by Hollywood icons.

Bolton also told Vogue that the "Anthology" exhibit will honor individual American designers, like Oscar de la Renta, as well as lesser-known designers that may have been forgotten by history.

It wouldn't be a surprise for stars to join in celebrating American designers by wearing their looks on the Met Gala red carpet.