What's So Mega About The Met Ball?

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

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.