I stayed up way too late Monday night watching the “Red Carpet” of the Met Gala on YouTube. I couldn’t look away for many reasons, not all of them good. It was…interesting.
First, are you sitting down? Make sure there is nothing in your mouth when you read the next sentence.
This year, a single ticket to the Met Gala cost $75,000. Hey, last year it was only $50,000. In the 1940s, it was $50. I mean, Jeff Bezos was there and he can afford it but…
How Much Money Did This Year’s Met Gala Raise? Answer: $26 million:
The event began in 1948 as a benefit for the Costume Institute, the museum’s only curatorial department expected to float its own annual operating budget. Since 1999, Anna Wintour, the global editorial director of Condé Nast and the editor of Vogue, has worked to transform the gala into an immensely profitable commingling of celebrities, sponsors and brands.
Ticket prices for the gala have increased steeply. This year an individual ticket was $75,000 — compared to $50,000 last year and $35,000 in 2022. Tickets to the 2015 gala cost exactly a third of what they do now.
But if your name happens to be Zendaya, you might be in luck: Celebrities do not usually buy their own tickets. Rather, brands like Chloé or Tory Burch purchase entire tables starting at $350,000 and compete to dress the buzziest names. For these brands, the amount of online and media attention heaped on the gala makes it a powerful advertising opportunity.
Anyway, the theme… Zendaya, Bad Bunny and an Intriguing Theme at the 2024 Met Gala
The dress code for the gala on Monday night is “Garden of Time,” an apparent reference to a 1962 short story by the British writer J.G. Ballard in which aristocrats living in a walled estate are menaced by the advance of a violent rabble. But the theme also nods to the subject of the spring exhibition, titled “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.”
The show will feature 220 objects on view from the Costume Institute’s permanent collection, including garments too fragile to be traditionally displayed.
Apparently no one got the memo about the threat of a violent rabble.
For context, here is a recap of all the Met Galas since the beginning of the event.
And here is something about the exhibition on which the theme was based.
I have some reactions and comments to the red carpet extravaganza! First, the entrance to the event is up a long set of carpeted stairs, perfect for photos but a hazard for women in stiletto heels who don’t know how to walk in them. Oh, the struggle. Also, the number of trains that required five to six men to carry them was so ridiculous. And tight lacing? There were young women in corseted dresses struggling to breathe on the staircase. They looked very, very frightened.
The plus side? What started as a very WASPy event has became very racially inclusive. And it is very gender fluid, as well. I like that. But $75,000??? Come on.
However, over in Brooklyn there was a different Gala on Sunday night, and a more relatable one at that. Now in its second year, this event is about erasing medical debt for regular people. Hooray! More of this, please!
The weekend begins now. Come in, loosen your laces if you have them, and be comfortable. Share your day, your weekend plans, your menus! This is an open thread.