Catherine Rusoff
On May 6, 2024, the Metropolitan Museum of Art will host its famous Met Gala to raise funds for The Costume Institute. The event will also kick off the latest costume exhibition titled “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” with “The Garden of Time” as the dress code.
The institute was renovated in 2014 as the Anna Wintour Costume Center with the help of the Vogue editor-in-chief whose name is on its door. A trustee of the Met, Wintour spent decades transforming the gala into what the museum calls one of the “most visible and successful charitable events in the world.”
“It was a social event. People weren’t very excited about going,” Wintour told “CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King in 2023. “Taking control and trying to make a night of it was quite intimidating.”
What is the Met Gala, exactly?
The Met Gala is a fundraiser that brings together some of the biggest names in the most famous sectors. Visitors descend on New York City on the first Monday in May to showcase collaborations with famous designers and brands in looks that take months to create.
“The Met Gala has always had one mission: to raise money for important work,” said Wintour.
Guests follow an annual theme and work to reference historic pieces, incorporate innovative ideas, and execute complex concepts that resonate beyond the walls of the Met.
“We’re always interested in trying to reflect a cultural moment and what we feel is happening in the world at a given time,” Wintour said of the guests.
“Each year is different and we try to curate the guest list in a way that makes sense for whatever the exhibition theme is,” Wintour said.
It’s been the setting for notable and much-discussed pop culture highlights, from Rihanna’s 2015 arrival in a long Chinese cape to Lady Gaga’s multifaceted revelations at 2019’s Camp-themed gala. fashion experts, critics and consumers analyze the red carpet with great precision to understand, through photos and videos, the efforts – and sometimes, the mistakes – involved in preparing for the event.
What’s the inside of the Met Gala like?
While many have entered the museum and visited its exhibits, few have done so using the best pieces to party and spend thousands (sometimes millions) among titans of cinema, sports, business, music and society. This rarefied allure is what attracts many to follow and dissect the gala.
Hanan Besovic, the post-pandemic viral voice behind Instagram @ideservecouture, will have a seat adjacent to the action. He will join a handful of influencers at the Mark Hotel — where many gala-goers are preparing for the event — on the day of the gala on the Upper East Side, five blocks from the Met.
There, Besovic will watch arrivals and make social content alongside a room of other fashion-obsessed creators hosted by Meta.
As hotel guests emerge from their temporary lair at the Mark, after spending hours on their hair, makeup and styling, they step out to a crowd of fans and press awaiting a first glimpse of their outfits, before arriving at time to queue up on the museum steps.
“Everyone gets a minute of our attention and then the next person comes,” Besovic said.
Normally, the first to appear are the event presidents. This year, Zendaya, Bad Bunny, Chris Hemsworth and Jennifer Lopez co-chaired with Anna Wintour.
One by one, celebrities are carefully dragged up the carpeted steps of the Met, where thousands of vehicles from around the world wait to photograph and record every angle. The perfect choreography is seen by millions of people, according to Vogue, through its viral flows.
What happens at the Met Gala after the red carpet?
What happens next is what fuels the most intrigue. In stark contrast to what happens outside, most of what happens inside the Met goes unrecorded.
“These tickets are very expensive. Brands buy tables,” said Besovic.
It is known that the evening includes dinner and a performance. Cher, Rihanna, Madonna and Lady Gaga have performed in recent years, among the world’s most coveted arts and notable artists.
Vogue is usually the only publication with inside information. In 2023, they previewed the gala dinner, guided by what they say was one of Karl Lagerfeld’s most famous gatherings: Paloma Picasso’s wedding reception.
These dishes look delicate, colorful, and healthy in the Vogue images, with chilled split pea soup and Ōra King salmon served on vintage plates with an array of fruits and vegetables for last year’s attendees.
Are photos allowed inside the Met Gala?
“The only snippets we receive come from social media,” says Besovic about the event’s exclusivity.
Viral bathroom videos and selfies taken by celebrities are the only inside view. Katie Perry rushing back into her over-the-top burger outfit for the 2019 gala after running into Jennifer Lopez near the tents. The Kardashians posing with Paris Jackson and a bunch of supermodels. Lil Nas X, Erykah Badu and Jack Harlow posing for a photo. Or celebrities post elevator videos, like the viral moment with Reese Witherspoon chatting with Cara Delevingne, Zooey Deschanel and Kate Upton. These end up being the only glimpses of the gala’s interior to get through before the common folk hit the hay.
What else do they do at the Met Gala?
Once the gala is over, guests rush to the afterparties, many of whom mill around New York City all night. The Standard Hotel’s “Boom Boom Room” often hosts celebrities – in 2023, singer and actress Janelle Monáe was in charge, according to Women’s Wear Daily.
Brands and designers also release more fashion moments at after-parties.
In 2016, when model Karlie Kloss arrived in town after the gala, American designer Brandon Maxwell adapted her outfit for “after,” cutting her structured dress into a mini. This year, designers Jean Paul Gaultier and Shayne Oliver will debut a capsule collection, featuring around 50 pieces from the collaboration.
