What is the dress code? Who gets to go? How much does it cost?
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 Costume Institute. Unofficially, it’s “ the party of the year, ” “the Oscars of the East Coast” and “an A.T.M. for the Met” (the last by the publicist Paul Wilmot). We think of it as the Fashion X Games or the All-Star Game of Entrances. Guests are given timed entrance instructions to avoid traffic jams on the red carpet. In theory, arrivals start at 5:30 p.m., usually with the evening’s famous hosts, and end at 8 p.m. But the most famous generally arrive whenever they want, sometimes as late as 9:30 p.m. You can’t rush Rihanna. Probably not this time since she is due to give birth any moment, but who knows? That could add some red carpet drama. The special co-hosts are Regina King, Lin-Manuel Miranda and the power couple Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. Honorary chairs include Anna Wintour of Vogue, the real power behind the event; Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, the company that is underwriting the exhibition and party, along with Condé Nast; and Tom Ford, who will probably dress many attendees. The party signals the opening of the Costume Institute’s annual blockbuster show, and the party dress code is usually themed to the exhibition. This year’s show is “ In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” part two of a yearlong extravaganza about the relevancy and power of American Fashion. (Part One was “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion”). The dress code is “gilded glamour.” It is true that, as a result of the pandemic, and for one time only, a Met gala was held in September, albeit on a slightly reduced scale, for part one of the exhibition. (To be absolutely accurate, the galas were originally held in November; they moved around a bit and settled in May in 2005.) Because the gala was canceled in 2020, the Costume Institute, like the American fashion industry, suffered a financial blow, and the interim gala was scheduled to make up some of the shortfall — and to give the city the equivalent of a highly visible coming-out party. Attendees have to provide proof of vaccination status and a negative COVID-19 PCR test. They are also asked to wear face coverings indoors except when eating or drinking. Given that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attended September’s gala wearing a dress graffiti’ed with the words “Tax the Rich,” that tickets are $35,000 apiece and that tables range from $200,000 to $300,000, that’s a fair assumption.
