Blake Lively's Iconic Met Gala Look Features This $7 Style Hack That Transforms Any Outfit

On the morning of the first Monday in May (my personal favorite holiday), I received a horrifying Slack. It read "lol Blake wyd" and was a photo of the outfit Met Gala co-host Blake Lively wore to a pre-Met lunch, which appears to be a half suit-half silver gown. If you're having trouble visualizing this, that makes sense, considering it is somehow, against all odds, even more hard to understand when you're looking at a photo of it. Twitter was concerned this would foreshadow disappointment in her actual Gilded Glamour look, and I was preparing myself for her first miss in Met Gala history — considering she consistently stays on theme and always delivers a slay.

Thankfully, we were all wrong, and Lively more than understood the assignment. The co-host pulled up to the museum steps in a Versace dress that was an ode to New York. The art deo crystal underlayer was inspired by the architecture of the Empire State Building, and the copper color of the dress was inspired by the original appearance of the Statue of Liberty. After walking up the famous museum steps, Lively waved three tuxedoed men to come untie the large bow tied at the hip of her dress, and it unfurled to reveal a blue patina color, representing what the Statue of Liberty looks like now. Her blue train even had a celestial map inspired by the ceiling of Grand Central Station. Basically, she is Serena Van Der Woodsen IRL.

But the hardest thing to wrap my head around about the transformation of the dress wasn't the unfurling and color change, but the double-layered gloves. Naturally, Blake's perfectly on-theme GIlded Glamour gown featured long gloves. When the tuxedoed men revealed the patina train, they also slipped off her copper gloves, revealing a pair of blue ones underneath. Long opera gloves are having a moment in 2022, but I've never gracefully taken a pair off, so Lively being able to wear two at once and have them removed so elegantly really speaks volumes to how iconic this Met Gala look is.

It's also more evidence of how similar to Serena she really is, considering a quick Google search on "Serena Van Der Woodsen outfits" will reveal more than a handful of looks featuring gloves both long and short; silk and leather — but none inspired by the State of Liberty, unfortunately. On Gossip Girl, Serena frequently wore gloves, and I remember this so vividly because I insisted that my mom buy me multiple pairs when I first watched the show in high school and tried desperately to recreate her wardrobe. And like most things that were popular on the show in the early 2000s, the accessory is coming back in full force.

Gucci, Maisie Wilen, and Marc Jacobs' recent runway shows all featured long gloves, as well as many looks from the iconic and very pink Valentino SS22 show. Dua Lipa's current Future Nostalgia tour looks prominently feature long gloves, and Olivia Rodrigo opted for a pair on the Grammys red carpet with her vintage Vivienne Westwood dress.

A quick scroll through TikTok's #fitcheck will reveal plenty of stylish people throwing on a pair of gloves, which go for as little as $7 on Amazon, to complete their look. They're the perfect affordable accessory because they're essentially a low-effort style hack for instantly making any outfit look fancy. And don't worry, you don't normally need an invite to the Met Gala or a team of tuxedoed men to wear the trend.

Shop Blake Lively's Met Gala-approved trend, below.