Met Gala

The Met Gala, formally called the Costume Institute Benefit, is the annual haute couture fundraising festival held for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in Manhattan. The Met Gala was and still is popularly regarded as the world's most prestigious and glamorous fashion event. Attendees are given the opportunity to express themselves through fashion, often producing elaborate and highly publicized outfits inspired by the evening's theme and broader cultural context. This event is advertised by Vogue. The event is known as "fashion's biggest night",^[4][5] where "haute couture intersects with history to create the ultimate cultural moment – all in the name of art";^[6] an invitation is highly sought after. Personalities who are perceived to be culturally relevant to contemporary society amongst various professional spheres, including fashion, film, television, music, theater, business, sports, tech, social media, and politics, are invited to attend the Met Gala,^[7] organized by the fashion magazine Vogue.

The Gala is an event held annually on the first Monday of May,^[8] which marks the opening of the Costume Institute's annual fashion exhibit hosted on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.^[9] Many of the attendees are depicted on the covers and pages of Vogue. Each year's event celebrates the specific theme of that year's Costume Institute exhibition, which sets the tone for the formal attire of the night.

Guests are expected to curate their fashions to match the theme of the annual exhibit, generally in haute couture. Fashion executive Anna Wintour, who is the editor-in-chief of Vogue, has chaired or co-chaired the Met Gala since 1995, except for the 1996 Met Gala, which was chaired by Wintour's successor at British Vogue, Liz Tilberis, who attended with her friend Diana, Princess of Wales.^[10] Over time, the Met Gala has evolved beyond the New York fashion epicenter to become increasingly global and diverse in its perspective and scope.

The entry price for one ticket to attend the Met Gala has risen to US$75,000 in 2024, an increase from $50,000 in 2023, to attend the annual gala in the financial, media, and fashion capital of New York City.^[11][12] In 2023, software company Launchmetrics found that the Met Gala generated nearly double the "media impact value" (the monetary value of publicity generated) for brands than the Super Bowl, at US$995 million. In 2024, the Met Gala's figure rose to $1.4 billion.^[13] Notwithstanding the historical dominance of American and Western European fashion designers represented, the Met Gala continues to evolve into a more international platform, with progressively increasing representation of celebrities and designers from outside the Western hemisphere.^[14]