Anna Wintour attends the 2022 Met Gala celebrating "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 02, 2022. Photo / Getty Images
Anna Wintour attends the 2022 Met Gala celebrating "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 02, 2022. Photo / Getty Images
While the first Monday of May has already been and gone in Aotearoa, the biggest day in fashion is dawning on New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The iconic event, which was first founded in 1946, is a celebration of fashion, art, and culture and sees some of the biggest global stars descend on the carpet in all their glamour.
Essentially, the Met Gala is a fundraising dinner for the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (or the Met) in New York City and coincides with the opening of the gallery’s latest exhibition.
However, it has become one of the biggest annual fashion events, which sees A-listers get dressed up in elaborate and experimental outfits.
The Met Gala is run by Vogue, the major international fashion magazine, and, despite its extensive red carpet coverage, is a private event, with a strict no phone and no social media policy inside.
However, the invitees’ journey from being dropped off to entering the museum is greeted with an array of flashing lights and hordes of photographers capturing the much-anticipated arrivals.
What makes the event different from every other red carpet do is the attire, which is often outlandish, interpretive and imaginative. Guests typically team up with well-known fashion houses to create a look that brings to life the event’s dress code, which changes every year.
Now, the annual gala has become a competition for who can be the most jaw-dropping - and there have been a few outstanding moments over the years.
Jared Leto attends the gala celebrating the opening of the "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty" exhibition last year, in New York. Photo / AP
When is the Met Gala?
The Met Gala is held on the first Monday of May every year. This year, that falls on May 6 in New York.
What day is the Met Gala in New Zealand?
The guests are arriving now in New York.
What time is the Met Gala in New Zealand?
The event kicks off at 6pm in New York, which will be 10am NZST.
Lady Gaga at the Met Gala. Photo / Getty Images
Where can I watch the Met Gala red carpet in New Zealand?
You can stream the Met Gala red carpet via Vogue’s live stream on their website. It will also be broadcast on YouTube and TikTok.
The Vogue Met Gala livestream will be hosted by actor Gwendoline Christie, producer and actor La La Anthony, and model Ashley Graham. Emma Chamberlain is Vogue’s special correspondent.
Around 450 guests attend the Met Gala every year, with many being significant figures in the pop culture sphere - think actors, musicians, models, fashion designers, athletes and even politicians.
“Some of the biggest names in the business regularly attend - from Beyonce and Gigi Hadid to Madonna and Rihanna,” its website says.
Rihanna has let slip that she’ll be in attendance and will likely be accompanied by her partner, rapper A$AP Rocky. Lily Gladstone and Dua Lipa have both confirmed they will be at the Met Gala this year.
Other high-profile partners likely to be at the event, thanks to their significant others hosting, include Ben Affleck and Tom Holland.
Doja Cat attends the 2023 Met Gala. Photo / Getty Images
What is the Met Gala theme?
The theme for this year’s exhibition is Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.
“The forthcoming show has not to do with the Brothers Grimm or Disney,” the magazine says. “But rather the celebration of clothing and fashion so fragile that it can’t ever be worn again - and are thus sleeping beauties in the scrupulous archives of the Costume Institute.”
Vogue says the dress code was inspired by a short story by J G Ballard called The Garden of Time. It’s about a count and countess who live in a grand villa, which is being threatened by an encroaching mob.
According to a BBC article shared in 2012, the story goes as follows:
“The garden contains crystalline flowers at the tops of whose stems are goblet-shaped blossoms, which when snapped from the stem, drain the garden of time and motion.
“Each evening the count snaps off one of the time flowers. As he carries the crystal blossom onto the terrace, the menacing rabble retreats and he and his wife are safe for another day. But the stems no longer bear fruit, the flowers are being used up, and the count realises that time could not be stopped forever.”
What’s the difference between the theme and the dress code?
The theme is for the exhibition and the dress code is for the event, however, often the two blend on the red carpet.
