What Is the Met Gala, and Who Gets to Go?
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 Costume Institute (a.k.a. the fashion department), the
only one of the Met’s curatorial departments that has to fund itself.
Unofficially,
Monday night’s festivities in New York have been called many things,
including “the party of the year,” “the Oscars of the East Coast”
(mostly because of the star quotient and the elaborate red carpet, in
which guests pose on the grand entrance stairs to the museum) and,
somewhat pointedly, “an A.T.M. for the Met,” by the publicist Paul
Wilmot.
The
party signals the opening of the Costume Institute’s annual blockbuster
show, and it is known for its celebrity and fashion hosts.
This year, the exhibit is “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology,” and the hosts are Anna Wintour, chairwoman of the gala; Jonathan Ive, chief design officer of Apple; Taylor Swift; and the actor Idris Elba.
he
honorary chairs are the Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld; Miuccia Prada;
and Nicolas Ghesquière, Louis Vuitton’s artistic director. All will be
in attendance except for Mr. Lagerfeld, who will be in Cuba because the
Chanel Cruise show is in Havana the day after the gala.
Why is it called the party of the year?
Ms.
Wintour, the editor of American Vogue and the artistic director of
Condé Nast, took over as chairwoman of the gala in 1999. Since then, she
has been instrumental in transforming a local philanthropic event into
the ultimate global celebrity/power cocktail: Take a jigger of famous
names from fashion, add film, politics and business, and mix. It is
among the hardest party tickets of the year to get — and thus intensely
coveted.
How much does it cost?
Tickets
this year are $30,000 apiece, and tables are $275,000. The party and
exhibit are sponsored (this year Apple is the main underwriter), so all
the money raised from ticket sales goes to the Costume Institute. Last
year, more than $12.5 million was raised. Of course, not everyone pays
for a ticket. Brands often invite celebrities to be their guests and sit
at their table, and Ms. Wintour also often invites up-and-coming
designers who might not be able to afford a ticket and scatters them
around the event.
How many people attend?Last year, there were about 600 attendees.
So if I can afford a ticket, can I go?
Dream
on. Unlike other cultural fund-raisers, like the New York City Ballet
gala or the Frick Collection’s Young Fellows Ball, the Met gala is
invitation-only, and there is a waiting list to get on the invitation
list. Qualifications for inclusion have to do with buzz and achievement
(and beauty) more than money. Ms. Wintour has final say over every
invitation and attendee, which means that even if a brand buys a table,
it cannot choose everyone who sits at its table: The brand must clear it
with her, and Vogue.
O.K., you’re saying I can’t go. So why should I care?
It’s
reality TV at its most glamorous. Watch Justin Bieber schmooze with
Rihanna! See Gisele Bündchen and Tom Brady greet Donatella Versace!
Check out Chelsea Clinton kissing Diane von Furstenberg! Judge whether
you approve of their outfits! You get the idea.
Speaking of outfits, do attendees have to dress in theme?
It
isn’t explicitly stated that attendees have to dress like the
exhibition, but it is encouraged. This can sometimes backfire. In 2013,
for example, the theme was “Punk,” and which featured Sarah Jessica Parker in a Philip Treacy fauxhawk hat and
graffiti gown, and Madonna in fishnet shorts and a studded plaid
jacket, was widely panned.
Last year, the exhibit was “China: Through the Looking Glass,” and it created some politically incorrect moments
when celebrities and the designers who dressed them got their Asian
references muddled. (Lady Gaga, for example, wore a Balenciaga
kimonolike look, which seemed to lean toward the Japanese; ditto Georgia
May Jagger in Gucci.) Generally, it is advisable to play it safe and
just get really, really dressed up.
That
said, what is not negotiable is that if celebrities are invited to the
gala by a brand, they have to wear clothes from that brand. This
encourages brands to get the best celebrities because they can act as
something of an advertisement for a house. It is also why, whenever
designers are photographed on the red carpet, their “dates” are almost
always famous people. Last year, for example, Marc Jacobs took Cher; Christopher Kane, FKA Twigs; Alexander Wang, Taraji P. Henson; and Jeremy Scott, Katy Perry.
How long has this been going on?
The
publicist Eleanor Lambert started the gala in 1948 as a typical
philanthropic endeavor for the great and good of New York society. Pat
Buckley, the wife of the conservative pundit William F. Buckley Jr.,
took over as chairwoman in 1979, but it has morphed into its current
form only since the turn of the millennium. Ms. Wintour now oversees
every detail, down to timed entrances for guests.
What happens when guests get inside?
It’s
a secret! Since last year, posting on social media has been banned
after the red carpet. What I can tell you is this: There is a receiving
line inside with all the hosts, and guests have to file by and air-kiss
them; then they tour the exhibit on their way to the cocktail party, so
they are at least theoretically forced to see the culture. After
cocktails, they are called in to dinner, and there is always some form
of entertainment (last year, it was Rihanna; the year before, Frank
Ocean). This is good, because as the red carpet part of the evening has
become a giant marketing event, the fact that the main part of the event
is private allows guests to relax and have fun.
Or so they tell me.
