The Atlantic

Why Met Gala Attendees Always Screw Up the Theme

They’re not the only ones at fault.
Source: Neilson Barnard / Getty

For New York City’s wealthiest inhabitants, the advent of spring means gala season: a string of fancy, expensive parties benefiting museums, cultural institutions such as the ballet, and other charitable causes. Every year, the season hits its crescendo on the first Monday in May, with the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala. The party is the toughest ticket in town, with a more opulent red carpet than even the Academy Awards. It gets name-checked by rappers and featured in Hollywood blockbusters. For people with even a passing interest in high fashion, it’s the Super Bowl.

Like the Super Bowl, the Met Gala’s

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic4 min read
Hayao Miyazaki’s Anti-war Fantasia
Once, in a windowless conference room, I got into an argument with a minor Japanese-government official about Hayao Miyazaki. This was in 2017, three years after the director had announced his latest retirement from filmmaking. His final project was
The Atlantic4 min read
When Private Equity Comes for a Public Good
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. In some states, public funds are being poured into t
The Atlantic4 min readAmerican Government
How Democrats Could Disqualify Trump If the Supreme Court Doesn’t
Near the end of the Supreme Court’s oral arguments about whether Colorado could exclude former President Donald Trump from its ballot as an insurrectionist, the attorney representing voters from the state offered a warning to the justices—one evoking

Related Books & Audiobooks