Why Is There A Met Gala?
Costume Institute Gala or the Costume Institute Benefit, popularly known as the Met Gala, is an annual fundraising ball hosted to raise money for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York City.
The Met Ball marks the opening for the Institute’s yearly fashion exhibit event. The Costume Institute’s fashion exhibit theme determines the theme for the gala, and the invited guests must arrive in a statement piece that resonates with the chosen theme.
In 1948, fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert created the Met Gala to support the newly opened Institute. Since then, the event is labelled as the most luxurious, exclusive and prominent social event globally.
Anna Wintour, the British-American journalist, who has also served as the Editor-in-chief for Vogue and the Global Chief Content Officer for Conde Nast since 2020, is also the chairman of the Institute since 1995.
The schedule of the exclusive social event includes a cocktail hour followed by a formal dinner. The guests pose and walk on the red carpet during the cocktail hour. They are also allowed to visit the year’s themed exhibition.
After this, the guests are seated down for a dinner party that includes a variety of performances from notable entertainers famous during that day and age.
Some of the chosen themes include Costumes of Royal India, Christian Dior, Haute Couture, to name a few. The last Met Gala held on May 6, 2019, reflected the theme “Camp: Notes on Fashion”.
The Met Gala 2020, scheduled on May 4 2020, was cancelled due to the global health crisis- Covid-19.
Therefore, it has created intense anticipation for this year’s Met Gala by fashion designers, celebrities, and the public to see what the extravagant event will present this time.
Met Gala 2021 – Here’s All We Know
The Met Gala 2021 will be a two-part exhibition – a first of its kind – based on the theme of American Fashion.
The first part, which will be held on September 13, 2021, is themed “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” sponsored by Instagram and will take place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The second half, “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” will open on May 5, 2022. The plan is that the first half will continue to be displayed until the second part is released.
The Met Gala 2021 will reportedly be an intimate party, with the evening party saved for a later date because of the ongoing pandemic. This year will also mark the Costume Institute’s 75th anniversary.
The co-chairs who are chosen to host the event this year will be Timothée Chalamet, Billie Eilish, Amanda Gorman, and tennis player Naomi Osaka. Anna Wintour, Tom Ford and Adam Mosseri will serve as the honorary chairs.
The first part will exhibit the selected works of designers Prabal Gurung, Christopher John Rogers, Sterling Ruby, Conner Ives, and Andre Walker. Recently an Instagram fan account released a mock seating arrangement of the rumoured guests.
It included stars like Kim Kardashian, Youtuber Emma Chamberlain, Tiktoker Addison Rae etc. The seating arrangement went viral on social media, with fans and users suggesting which celebrity must not sit with whom and many comments along those lines.
The fan page has addressed that they are not “affiliated with the Met Museum ” and placed a caveat on the viral post. The Met Gala’s guest list is a heavily guarded, confidential document.
We will have to patiently wait and watch the red carpet event to see who received the invitation. The official dress code listed in the invitation for the 2021 Met Gala is American Independence.
Keep your calendars marked on September 13, 2021, to watch how the guests interpret American Independence through their fashion
