June Novak and Elena Gonzalez
The Met Gala is, without a doubt, the biggest, most high-profile fashion event of the year. With that being said, it might surprise you how it began.
The Met Gala is hosted once a year on the first Monday of May at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. The Costume Institute was originally The Museum of Costume Art, which was directed by Irene Lewisohn and was independent of the Met. In 1946 the two combined, and The Costume Institute was born.
Its collection consists of 33,000 pieces, demonstrating a timeline of fashion history from the fifteenth century to the present day. The Costume Institute Benefit, otherwise known as The Met Gala, is its biggest fundraising event.
So 2 years after the Costume Institute was founded, Eleanor Lambert, who initiated New York Fashion Week, began the annual charity event, which started as a dinner at midnight.
In the early 70’s, the event became the celebrity-filled festivity we know today. Vogue editor-in-chief at the time, Diana Vreeland, was brought on as a consultant for the Costume Institute. Prior to her involvement in the event, the gala was hosted at different venues in Manhattan such as Central Park and the Waldorf Astoria. Vreeland switched the venue to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which garnered its nickname: the Met Gala. In addition, she added gala themes and the red carpet to the event, making it more social.
From 1995 until today, the Met Gala has been supervised by Anna Wintour, current editor-in-chief of Vogue. She set the date as the first Monday of May, and oversees the guest list and theme.
For each gala, there's a new exhibit that opens with it. Last year's benefit displayed “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty,” and the dress code was simply in honor of Karl. And the 2024 theme is “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.” The yearly theme and exhibit make every Met Gala a unique experience.