First things first: What is the Met Gala?
Officially, it’s the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute benefit, a black-tie extravaganza held the first Monday in May to raise money for the museum’s fashion wing.
Unofficially, it’s the party of the year, the Oscars of the East Coast and “an A.T.M. for the Met” (the last according to the publicist Paul Wilmot). To understand the latter, consider that last year’s event raised $17.4 million — while the Met’s regular old Spring Gala raised just over $2.6 million. How is that possible? What is the secret sauce?
Two words: Anna Wintour. The Vogue editor has been the gala’s chief mastermind since 1999 after first signing on in 1995, and she has turned the event from a run-of-the-mill charity gala into a mega-showcase for Vogue’s view of the world — the ultimate celebrity-power cocktail of famous names from fashion, film, tech, politics, sports and (now) social media. Every brand scratches every other brand’s back.
We think of it as the Fashion X Games or the All-Star Game of Entrances.
When is it?
This year, D-Day is also May Day: Monday, May 1. In theory, the timed arrivals — each guest is allotted a slot — start at 5:30 p.m., usually with the evening’s hosts, and end around 8 p.m. But you try telling Beyoncé when to show up! The most famous generally arrive whenever they want, sometimes as late as 9:30 p.m.
Is there a theme?
The party signals the opening of the Costume Institute’s annual blockbuster show, and the party is usually themed to the exhibition. This year’s show is “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty,” a homage to the imagination and creativity of Mr. Lagerfeld, the longtime designer of Chanel, Fendi and his own line, who died in 2019 and helped shape (pun intended) not just the modern wardrobe, but the modern fashion world.
Mr. Lagerfeld famously hated retrospectives — “I don’t want to see all those old dresses,” he once said (he said a lot of things, and often…
Read the full article here
