After the pandemic, the Met Gala returns to its regular spot on the social calendar as the year’s most important night of fashion. It’s one of those “what, already” moments.
Good morning first Monday of May.
The last gala was held in August, an annual fundraiser that raises funds for the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute. It has been less than eight months. About 600 A-listers representing fashion, music, sport, television, technology, and other fields were invited before the pandemic. The numbers were closer than 400 this year and last. The gala for 2020 was cancelled.
Last year, more than $16.4million was raised. This starry event is the primary source of funding for the institute’s budget.
The gala is held in conjunction with the opening of the second half of an exhibit at the Costume Institute that focuses on American fashion and style. Gilded glamour, white tie and gilded glamour will be the evening’s dress code. This is the Gilded Age period, which spans the time between the Civil War, the turn of 20 century, and was known for its drama, grandeur, and robber barons.
The Met’s Grand Staircase walk returns the gala back to its historic berth on the first Monday of May. Vogue’s website will have the livestream.
Since 1995, Vogue’s Anna Wintour runs the gala. Along with Tom Ford, designer, and Adam Mosseri, she continues to serve as the honorary co-chair of the gala. Official co-chairs of 2022 are Blake Lively and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Last year, a ticket to the Met Gala cost $35,000. Some people attend free of charge. Celebrities may be accompanied by designers or other companies who invite them, and their tabs are paid. This year’s fashion focus may be more inclusive and celebrate the unsung designers heroes.
This event was created by Eleanor Lambert, a fashion journalist as influential as Wintour. She needed to find a way to fund the Costume Institute, which was the only department in the Met that had to raise its own funds, in 1948.
Many of Wintour’s guests follow Wintour’s dress code. Others go their way. Interpretation is everything. Imagine Rihanna wearing a papal cap, Billy Porter as a sun god, Lady Gaga removing layers and shirtless men as the fashion world came to an impasse to watch.
Celebrities who couldn’t make it to the gala are also able to view a bizarre time capsule of their love. Ye, the ex-Kanye West singer, and Kim Kardashian attended the gala for the first time in 2013. In 2008, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes attended. Jennifer Lopez was there with Marc Anthony in 2011 and Alex Rodriguez in 2017. Alex Rodriguez also attended in 2017, 2018, and 2019. After she had walked by herself, Ben Affleck joined her in the inside.
Charlize Theron, Sean Penn and Sean Penn were two of the “it” couples invited to 2014. In 2017, Selena Gomez, The Weeknd and their friends showed up together.
