What's So Mega About The Met Ball?
Marie Claire Australia|June 2018

Every May, celebrities flock to the world’s most exclusive party – but there’s more to it than fashion and frippery. Victoria Moss explores how the gala has gone from style spectacle to political hot potato

Victoria Moss
What's So Mega About The Met Ball?
A single ticket costs about $39,000. A table at the dinner, in excess of $357,000. Even so, there’s a waiting list to get in, and all attendees must be approved by Anna Wintour. New York’s Met Ball, or Met Gala Benefit (as it’s officially known), is fashion’s biggest, starriest night, and often the most controversial. And the theme for this year’s event, co-hosted by Donatella Versace, Amal Clooney and Rihanna, may be one of the most debate-provoking yet: Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.

Ostensibly, the ball serves as the opening of the summer exhibition of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. The theme of the exhibition determines the gala’s dress code. Previous themes have included Punk: Chaos to Couture; Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty; and Anglo- Mania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion. The ball is a crucial fundraising arm for the gallery, raising more than $12 million USD in 2017 and enabling the exhibitions to exist.

The involvement of Wintour, who has been chairwoman since 1995, has seen the ball evolve from a high-society do into the world’s biggest red-carpet extravaganza. For attendees, this isn’t about showing off serious actor/artiste/ musician credentials; it’s all about achieving maximum column inches/ Instagram likes/Facebook shares and getting onto best-dressed lists. It’s about snaring cosmetic and fashion-house campaigns. It’s about being seen as part of the creative elite. It’s about status.

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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der June 2018-Ausgabe von Marie Claire Australia.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

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