Every year, the much-raved about Met Gala goes down in New York to the chatter of fashion critics, media outlets and enthusiasts the world over.
Widely regarded as fashion’s biggest night, the event has been dubbed the ‘Oscars of fashion,’ ‘Grammys of fashion,’ ‘Superbowl of fashion,’ among other prestigious titles. The annual gala, also called the Met Ball, goes down on the first Monday of May, save for 2020 and 2021 owing to the restriction directives stipulated owing to the pandemic.
The Sauce sought to give you several fun facts about the gala you ought to know.
Below, facts about fashion’s biggest night:
1.Charity Event
Formerly called the Costume Institute Gala, the glamorous event was founded in 1948 by fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert. As glitzy as it is, the Met is a charity event. All the proceeds from each year’s gala benefit the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York City.
2.Annual Theme
There is an annual theme that celebrities and other elite attendees abide by every year. The theme is divided into two parts: a cocktail hour and formal dinner. During the cocktail hour, celebrities walk the red carpet and tour the year’s exhibits and be seated by the dinner party that includes entertainment by the different entertainers of the night. Celebrities have in the past admitted to finding it hard going by some themes as they may not be very clear.
3.Anna Wintour
Renowned and infamous Vogue fashion editor Anna Wintour sits at the helm of the Gala. The legendary fashion icon and journalist, whose ways as depicted by Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada are just as controversial in real life, chooses each year’s guest list. Any personality in her bad books obviously gets no invitation. Having assumed chairmanship in 1995, Wintour saw proceeds increase exponentially, amounting to over $200 million. The annual guest list includes about 650-700 guests.
4.Controversy
The Met Gala never falls short of controversy. From controversial themes to celebrities breaking the set rules, the Ball always makes many a headline. In 2014, the Gala required guests to don a white tie, and backlash arose over the difficulty that became of the requirement as invitees had problems getting traditional white ties. The 2018 catholic theme was Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination. Religious people across the world deemed it utterly blasphemous. Social media users called it ‘blasphemous’ and ‘sacrilegious cosplay.’
5.The Met Staircase
Celebrities do a walk-and-repeat on the iconic Met Gala stairs after walking the red carpet. Year in, year out, they are known to pull stunts with some sitting on the steps.
6.No Selfies
In 2015, the Gala issued a no-selfie rule, in their quest to have the celebrities not spend most of the evening on their phones. “The use of phones for photography and social media will not be permitted inside the gala,” Read a notice. Two years later, Kylie Jenner famously flouted the rule when she took a viral bathroom selfie with Hollywood bigwigs like Diddy and Jennifer Lawrence in it.
7.The Sitting Arrangement
A lot of planning goes into the sitting arrangement. Spouses are not allowed to sit next to each other and a lot of consideration goes into deciding who sits next to who. Wintour and her staff sift through who has sat next to who in previous years, who gets along with who, et al.
The 2024 Met Gala is slated to go down tomorrow, Monday May 6. This year’s theme is dubbed ‘Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.’
