The biggest fashion night of the year, the Met Gala, returns to its usual place in the social calendar this year after the turmoil of the pandemic. And if it feels like one of those, already moments, it is. Less than eight months have passed since the last gala, an annual fundraiser raising eight figures for the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Before the pandemic, about 600 A-listers from fashion, sports, music, cinema, television, technology and more were invited. This year and last year, the numbers were closer to 400. The 2020 gala was canceled. More than $ 16.4 million was raised last year. The starry event is the main budget feeder of the institute. This year’s gala coincides with the opening of the second part of a two-part exhibition at the Costume Institute that focuses on American fashion and style. The dress code of the night is the gilded glow and the white tie, all the golden age, that turbulent period between the Civil War and the change of the 20th century, known for its baroness robbers, drama and grandeur. This year’s walk to the Grand Staircase at the Met returns the gala to its legendary position on the first Monday in May, with the official live stream appearing on the Vogue website. Vogue’s Anna Wintour has been hosting the gala since 1995. She continues as one of the evening’s honorary co-chairs, along with designer Tom Ford and Instagram’s Adam Mosseri. The official co-chairs for 2022 are Regina King, Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and Lin-Manuel Miranda. The cost of a seat at last year’s Met Gala started at $ 35,000, although some attend for free. Sometimes celebrities are accompanied (and their cards are paid) by the designers who dress them or other companies that invite them. The focus on fashion integration this year may celebrate and include more invisible designer heroes than usual. The fact is the invention of the late Eleanor Lambert, a fashion journalist as powerful as Wintour in her day. In 1948, he had to find a way to pay for the newly formed Costume Institute, the only department in the Met that had to raise its own funds. While many of Wintour’s carefully crafted guest list follow the dress code, others go their own way. Interpretation is everything. Think of Rihanna in a papal hat, Billy Porter as the sun god being carried on a garbage can by men without shirts and Lady Gaga peeling off the mattresses as the fashion world stopped watching. The gala also serves as a twisted time capsule of love that went wrong for celebrities who failed. Kim Kardashian and Ye, the former Kanye West, first met in 2013. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes left in 2008. Jennifer Lopez attended Marc Anthony in 2011, then Alex Rodriguez in 2017, in 2018 and 2019. Ben Affleck participated in her last year after walking alone. Charlize Theron and Sean Penn were among the “it” couples invited in 2014. Selena Gomez and The Weeknd appeared together in 2017.
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