Who is the Met Gala For and Why Are We So Fascinated By It?

The first Monday in May brings with it one of the most anticipated events on the pop culture calendar: The Met Gala. The annual event is a fundraiser for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, but for most people, it’s fashion’s biggest night. The center is named after Anna Wintour, the long-time editor of Vogue, and it is she who has helmed the gala since 1995. Invitations are tough to get and expensive to pay for (last year, a ticket was $75,000.) Attendance signals that you’re moving up the social ladder and have Made It. Stars have been created on its red/white/pink carpet, and the brand awareness it creates for the designers and labels who dress the guests is close to immeasurable. This year, however, there’s a giant asterisk next to the gala’s name, and it’s changing how many people look at the event.

The first-ever Met Gala was hosted in 1973. It cost $85 per person to attend and the theme was Balenciaga. While the event was always a focus of intrigue, it wasn’t until Wintour took over that it became a celebrity magnet. She invited people to co-chair it, usually big of-the-moment stars or designers. The themes became more elaborate, and people began committing with pure gusto. In 2015, the theme of “China: Through the Looking Glass” brought with it an enviable slew of apparel, including some now-iconic designs that helped to define the Met Gala as a unique opportunity for all involved (Rihanna’s coat!) As more and more people begged to attend, the ticket prices increased drastically and expectations skyrocketed. You had to go big or go home, and therein lay the fun. Who wanted to see yet another model in a bland slip dress you could see in every shop window?

In terms of pure monied excess, the Met Gala has long been the most glistening representation of that world, but also one of its most appealing. At its best, it’s a fairy-tale of couture and glamour with an acidic touch, a parade of beautiful people clad in outfits that are astonishing to look at and, occasionally, knowingly ridiculous. When people commit to the theme, be it camp or Black dandyism, the end result is a one-of-a-kind exhibition. You get to see the kind of fashion that wouldn’t fly on most red carpets. Who could forget Zendaya as Joan of Arc or Janelle Monae’s winking dress or Lady Gaga’s reveal after reveal after reveal? Even the biggest fashion sceptic can revel in the Met Gala, an impeccable demonstration of craft and wit. It’s escapism of the best kind when it’s done well.

That illusion is harder to maintain when Jeff and Lauren Sanchez Bezos, this year’s honourary co-chairs, are sitting at the head of the table. Yes, causes like this have long relied on rich benefactors who ask for a museum wing or two to be named after them. We’re all painfully aware of how charity-washing works and how it’s used to clean up some crooked names. That doesn’t make these odious billionaires’ flop-sweaty attempts to buy their ways into the echelons of cultural clout any less obvious or justifiable. That’s what makes this year’s event feel so discomfiting. The Bezoses could fund the Met’s costume work for decades to come and it wouldn’t make a dent in their exorbitant net worth. But people like them never just give the money away. They have to hold it over someone’s head on a hook and make them beg for it. In this case, they have to wield it to give themselves a glamorous makeover and force everyone else to fawn over it. There’s nothing less stylish or admirable than that.

Events like this always have us wondering when it’s time to eat the rich, and how much patience the average person has for this level of wealth porn when the vast majority of us are struggling to get by. I’ve long been conflicted about it, but the celebration of craft that the Met Gala venerates has always entertained me. I respect where the money goes and wish that such important work was able to thrive without charity. The Costume Institute does incredible stuff with that money and I long to see it in person. But I must admit that this is the first year where I’ve potently felt that sensation that this event is a brag-fest for the uber-rich. The Bezoses really do spoil everything. One wonders if Wintour is aware of the optics, especially since The Devil Wears Prada 2, a movie she’s had a big hand in promoting, has as its villains a transparent stand-in for the couple.

Fashion journalist Amy Odell wrote on her newsletter that this year’s Met Gala is more expensive than ever to attend: $100,000 per ticket. Anti-Bezos protests and posters have filled the streets of New York. There have been threats of disruption and pickets. As Odell noted, more and more tech money is going into the event and it’s creating the notion that the Gala is more about clout chasing than the clothes. It’s always been like that to some extent but now it’s so blatant that it could impact the coolness of the event. You can’t create a glamorous and exclusive party that everyone wants to go to, then make it so inaccessible that the only attendees are people you would never want to party with. I don’t think the Bezos presence will kill the Met Gala - not when Beyonce and Nicole Kidman are also chairing it - but I do wonder if outside interest will wane once we’re overwhelmed with that potent combination of arrogance and tackiness. Besides, Zendaya’s not even going to be there this year, so why bother?