The first Monday of May is not just any Monday, it is the beneficial gala of the Metropolitan Art Museum Institutealso known as the Oscars of the East Coast or the Fiesta of the Year. We consider it the X Fashion Games.
This year, however, things are a bit more complicated, in part because on the first Monday of May is also half of the qualifiers of the NBA and the beginning of the jury selection in the Judgment A Sean combs.
Why do the NBA qualifiers matter? Because LeBron James He is the Honor President of the Gala, and if his Los Angeles Lakers arrive at the conference semifinals, he will not be able to attend.
The queen who supervises everything is Anna WintourContent Director of Condé Nast and editor of the fashion magazine Vogue. Wintour has been the main brain of the gala since 1999, after doing so for the first time in 1995, and has transformed the event of a common beneficial gala into a megamuestario of the world’s vision of the world of Vogue: The cocktail of famous fashion names, cinema, technology, politics, sports and, more and more, social networks.
Together with Wintour as co -chants of the 2025 gala will be the musician and male clothing designer Pharrell Williamsthe rapper ASAP RockyFormula 1 pilot Lewis Hamilton and the actor Colman Sunday. For the first time since 2019, there will also be a host committee together with the presidents: the athletes Simone Biles and Jonathan Owensthe playwright Jeremy O. Harristhe writer Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieBroadway star Audra McDonaldthe singers Tyla and Usher.
The subject
This year it is the spring expo of the suit institute, entitled Superfine: Tailoring Black Stylewhich will focus on the history and influence of the black dandi in the western world, in the way in which fashion has been used as a tool of both slavery and liberation.
The exhibition is inspired by the 2009 book Slaves To Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identityof Monica L. MillerProfessor of African Studies at Barnard College, and has been jointly cured by Miller and Andrew Bolton, conservative responsible for the Institute of the suit, known in English as Costume Institute.
It is also the first exhibition of the institute of the suit dedicated exclusively to male clothes from Bravehearts: Men In Skirtsof 2003, and the first in which only color designers participate.
It sounds important, and it is. The exhibition is the culmination of a rebalancing of the funds and the approach of the Institute of the suit that Bolton adopted in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd. It has allowed Bolton to use pieces of the MET collection itself and acquire more pieces of color designers.
Last year, Miller told The New York Times That the exhibition was “an opportunity for all members of the curators team to really understand how many black designers, historical and contemporary, there is out there.”
It also arrives at a time when the Dei (Diversity, equity and inclusion) is being attacked by Donald Trump’s government. Similar efforts in universities and museums throughout the country have put in the target the institutions that host them.
Unlike other heavyweights of culture, such as the Smithsonian Institute, to which President Trump recently pointed out in an executive order, the Metropolitan receives very few federal funds, so it is much less vulnerable to Washington’s pressure.
Celebrities involved
As P. Diddy And founder of the fashion line Sean John, Comink appeared at a given time as a kind of incarnation of the topic of the sample. If I had not been charged by federal positions of criminal organization and sex trafficking last year, it is almost certain that it would have been in the spot. (Combs, which has been held in a Brooklyn prison since September, used to attend the gala regularly; the last time in 2023, when it premiered Sean John Couture).
In fact, some involved were apparently worried that the tension between the party and the trial would interfere in the evening. There were even rumors of some requests to move the party, but it was not achieved.
The show is designed by the artist Torkwase Dyson, and has a mannequin heads created by French Tanda, an artist known for her heads of heads and monumental African masks. Iké youa multimedia artist whom Bolton called the final contemporary dandy, is a special advisor, and Tyler Mitchell, the first black photographer who photographed a cover of Voguecreated a special photographic trial for the catalog.
The gala dinner menu will be created by Kwame Onwuachi, American chef and writer of Nigerian origin.
The cost of all this
Individual tickets for the gala cost from 75 thousand dollars, and the 10 tables are sold for 350 thousand dollars. All the money sale money is directly allocated to finance the annual budget of the suit institute.
This year, among the sponsors are Louis Vuitton (Pharrell Williams is Vuitton’s male clothing designer), Instagram, Africa Fashion International, Tyler Perry and Condé Nast.
Why does money have to go to the budget of the suit institute? It is the only curatorial department of the MET that must pay itself, according to a strange agreement dating from 1946, when the Museum of Art of the suit merged with the MET, and fashion was not considered a form of art of all respectable. And here the gala enters. Last year’s raised about 26 million dollars; In comparison, the Reopening gala of the Frick collection, held in April, collected 3.7 million dollars.
The guest list is a very well kept secret. Unlike other cultural funds, such as the opening gala of the metropolitan opera season, the Met Gala can only be attended with invitation. The requirements for inclusion have more to do with the expectation, achievements and beauty – the Blessed Trinity of Wintour – than with money. The editor of Vogue He has the last word about all invitations and assistants.
This means that, although you give a lot of money to the museum, you will not necessarily meet the requirements, and although a company buys a table, it cannot choose who will sit in it. You have to pass all the proposals for guests by Wintour and Vogueand pray to approve them. This year, as in 2024, there are about 400 chosen, according to a spokeswoman for the suit institute.
Will Rihanna go?
Since your partner, ASAP Rockyit is one of the presidents, most likely the answer is yes, although with it you never know. (Last year, he confirmed his assistance and then became ill at the last moment).
Athletes are increasingly becoming the famous guests of the day, so you can expect a handful of basketball players, including number 1 of the Draft of the WNBA, Paige Bueckers, as well as, it is said, Shakira, Mary J. Blige and Lizzo. There will probably be one or two Kardashian/Jenner, judging by the assistance of the previous years.
Several young black designers will also be present, such as Laquan Smith, many of them invited for the first time.
Famous do not buy their tickets, they are invited by brands (sometimes by indication of Vogue), who buy their seats at the table, in addition to making their outfits, make them fly and accommodate them. In return, famous guests work the fashion angle. Of course, they can always make a donation to the museum.
Clothing code
This year is “to your measure”, an adequately vague guideline. After all, since most Met gala suits are specifically made for those who saw it, in theory they are all made to measure. Even so, the issue can counteract the tendency of the guests to disguise that some of the recent galas have characterized.
Do you remember when Billy Porterlike a phoenix of golden wings, was taken to the celebration party of the “Camp” theme in 2019 by six men without a shirt? Or when Jared Leto arrived at the gala that celebrated Karl Lagerfeld in 2023 dressed as Lagerfeld’s cat?
However, as Vuitton is a sponsor, you will see many creations of that brand. Also many costumes.
To offer a vision from within the gala, Vogue will broadcast the event live for the fifth consecutive year. The Anthony and Emma Chamberlain, presenters last year, will now be accompanied on the red carpet by Teyana Taylor and Ego Nwodim. You can expect you to go beyond “What are you wearing?”
