Met Gala Secrets Revealed: $30,000 Tickets, an Age Limit & No Selfies
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Originally appeared on E! Online
ICYMI, it's May and the Super Bowl of fashion is upon us.
That's right, the 2024 Met Gala is here, so you know what that means: It's time to drool over our favorite celebrities, their jaw-dropping red carpet looks and just how well they nailed the "Garden of Time" theme for the "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion" exhibit. (And check out every star, like Zendaya, Jessica Biel, Kendall Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Cardi B and more, on the red carpet here.)
The annual affair is so exclusive that it's just one of four days that New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art closes—the others being Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. But the Met Gala, which was first held in 1948 and serves as a fundraiser for the museum's costume institute, did not become the sartorial sensation that its known for today until Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour took over as the gala's chair in 1995.
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Under her direction, the arduous prep that goes into throwing the Met Gala has become mythical, with individual ticket prices sky-rocketing to $30,000—just wait until you hear how much a table costs—and hundreds of staffers working year-round to make sure the menu, seating chart and the exhibit itself are all picture-perfect...even if celebs aren't allowed to snap photographs of anything once they step off the red carpet.
To properly celebrate 2024's first Monday in May, check out all of these fashionably fun facts about the Met Gala:
How Much It Costs to Attend the Met Gala
If you're lucky enough to score an invite to fashion's biggest event of the year, a solo ticket costs $30,000, while a table is yours for $275,000.
Fortunately, not everyone has to pay to attend, as Anna Wintour is known to invite up-and-coming designers to the gala. And, usually, the celebrities invited specifically to model a designer's work on the carpet don't have to pony up either.
And the steep price tag isn't enough to deter the rest of the stylish set: There is actually a waitlist.
"I've known of society names who couldn't get a ticket and are prepped to go if there's a last-minute seat that becomes available," vintage store owner Cameron Silver, who has attended the event several times, revealed to Page Six in 2017. "They have their look ready even if they aren't certain of whether they will actually have a seat days before the event."
Number of Attendees
It varies, with 500 being considered small and cozy and 800, the largest number of attendees the Met Gala has ever entertained, being deemed too big.
"We do want the experience to feel intimate for our guests," Vogue's Sylvana Ward Durrett told Fast Company in 2017, "so in the past few years, we've really scaled back and dropped numbers by almost 200 or 300 people." .
Despite its reputation for opulence and glam, the organizers actually want the event to feel exclusive for the lucky few who get to attend, with Wintour usually starting the list with the hopes of keeping it at 500. "We want to keep this an intimate setting because that's why people come to this," Ward Durrett is overheard saying in The First Monday in May.
And just because a celebrity is invited doesn't mean they automatically get a plus-one for their significant other; their partner must also land an invite of their own.
The Planning Process
There's no rest for the fashionable as plans for the event usually start on the Tuesday immediately after the first Monday in May. (FYI, about 100 people work on the event year-round, including 10 full-time Vogue employees.)
"I'm a big fan of a one-sheet," Vogue's then-director of special projects Ward Durrett explained of her process. "We have sort of a running to-do list that just gets longer and longer as we get closer—and we literally go through [it] every day, even if it's redundant."
The first bullet point on her list? The tent. "Then you [write out] everything that's involved surrounding [that aspect]." Making this list helps her to think about the event "from start to finish—and to make sure that we're not missing anything."
As for how involved Wintour is with the details, the late Vogue contributing editor Andre Leon Talley said in The First Monday in May, "Anna is meticulously vetting every single thing, from the napkins to the forks to the lighting. The detail of the flowers, the detail of the ushers, how they're dressed, everything has been vetted for months and weeks and months and weeks."
And she prefers to keep the details close to her iconic Chanel dress, with Vogue contributing editor Plum Sykes telling The New York Post, "It's very secretive. [Wintour] doesn't want anyone to know what she's planning or what she's up to until the minute they walk down that red carpet and through the door."
How the Seating Chart Works
If you've ever tried to do seating arrangements for a wedding, you might have a tiny understanding of just how difficult it is to do the seating chart for the Met Gala. This is one of the most important aspects of the event that the team spends the most time on, strategically seating guests by looking at common interests.
"A lot of thought goes into who sits next to who, if they sat together last year, if they've sat next to each other at other events, so much goes into it, it's shocking," Ward Durrett said in The First Monday in May. "A lot of power-brokering."
Of course, each year the seating arrangements go through many, many changes as the event takes shape, with Ward Durett telling Vogue she learned early on to invest in Velcro over post-it notes to avoid any errors. "There have been many iterations of the seating chart," she said. "When I first started, we had just little stickies, and it was a nightmare—things were falling off, we were losing people and rewriting names a million times a day."
Color-coding is also used, as Ward Durrett likes to go with the woman-man-woman-man pattern if possible. And another key rule that might surprise you: "Never seat spouses next to each other," she said. "The whole point of these things is to meet new people, and to be interested in what others are doing. What's the point if you come here to hang out with your husband?" Sorry, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds!
Table Placement
Listen, every event has that table that gets the nosebleed seats, usually near the kitchen and/or the bathroom. The Met Gala is no exception, so designers' table positions usually change each year.
And Wintour is very involved in the process, infamously chastising her team for trying to hide the H&M table in a scene from The First Monday in May. "We shouldn't bury this table," she said, "seriously, that's not fair."
Though it's not a luxury brand or atelier, H&M (also an advertiser in Vogue and other publications) and more accessible brands such as Topshop and Zara have started having more of a presence on fashion's biggest night. Making its debut in 2015, H&M scored a big win by having Sarah Jessica Parker wear a custom gown.
Avoiding Awkward Run-Ins between Exes and Frenemies
Given that it is one of the most A-list events, it's impossible not to have Hollywood exes and frenemies seated near each other. Remember when Selena Gomez and The Weeknd attended along with his ex Bella Hadid? So it's likely taken into consideration that, say, Taylor Swift and Katy Perry shouldn't have been at the same table at the height of their feud. But, ultimately, the overall event trumps any potential tension among the attendees.
"You can't please everybody. We always like to think there's not a bad [seat] in the house, which really there isn't. You have to come away confident in the notion that you are doing your best, and that inevitably not everyone will be happy," Ward Durrett said. "But we have a pretty good track record. The instances are few and far between, and we always try and work more closely with them the next year to manage expectations."
(In one memorable scene in the First Monday in May, Ward Durrett had placed three Velcro tabs to the side of her seating chart, bluntly telling Wintour, "Those are people I am hoping will go away.")
Alas, not everyone is happy with their assigned seat, as fashion critic Cathy Horn noted in her 2006 piece for The New York Times: "John Lydon, the former Sex Pistol known as Johnny Rotten, found his seat—the last at a long table and arguably one of the least desirable in the highly orchestrated seating plan—he was visibly upset...[he] stormed out twice, cursing museum workers."
He eventually took his seat.
The Banned List
During a 2018 appearance on The Late Late Show, James Corden asked Wintour to name any celebrity she would never invite back to the Met Gala.
"Donald Trump," she responded. (Then-President Trump and wife Melania Trump have attended the Met Gala several times over the years, though they last climbed those infamous stairs in 2012.)
Another celeb who claims to have been banned from the Met Gala? Former Project Runway mentor Tim Gunn, who alleged he was blacklisted by Wintour after telling a story about her to The Post that she found unflattering.
"All hell broke loose, it was insane," he said on E!'s Fashion Police back in 2016. "So we have had an open war ever since."
On the Menu
Yes, dinner is actually served at the event, with Stephen Colbert once revealing all of the guests had to wait for Wintour to take her seat before digging in.
And, like every other aspect, Wintour is heavily involved in the menu planning for each gala.
A Vogue employee told The Post that Wintour once banned ingredients that had the potential to get stuck in your teeth (parsley) or could give a guest bad breath (a lot of garlic) or, worst of all, stain their gown. So appetizers are made to be easily eaten.
Wintour usually prefers that the food served somewhat correspond to the theme. Though that doesn't always work out.
Glorious Food owner Sean Driscoll, who catered every Met Gala from 1995 through 2018, said the decision to serve lamb potpies for 2011's "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty" theme resulted in "a lot of special requests" as "many [guests] did not want to eat that."
But they also want the food to look good, with The First Monday in May director Andrew Rossi admitting he was shocked by the level of detail, especially when he attended a tasting with Wintour and watched her: "We see Anna literally going on her phone to look up the presentations of different food."
No Selfie Rule
No one is exactly sure why the mandate was instated, as no official explanation has ever been given for the decision to ban selfies and the use of social media from the glamorous and already-FOMO-inducing event. But it was made by Wintour in 2015.
At the time, a Vogue source revealed to Pret-a-Reporter that a notice went out to all invitees, warning, "The use of phones for photography and social media will not be permitted inside the gala."
The magazine declined to comment on the report, but a source told The Hollywood Reporter at the time, "It has solely to do with guests' security and enjoyment of the event."
Wintour's disdain for phones at the event was clear in a memorable scene from The First Monday in May, wherein she discovered a male celebrity—whose name had been blurred, per Wintour's request—decided to attend the event after initially declining. "Can he not be on his cell phone the entire time then?" she asked Ward Durrett.
In an interview with The Post, Ward Durrett explained, "Anna is sort of an old-school traditionalist. She likes a dinner party where people are actually speaking to each other. We aren't sitting over people's shoulders, but if it's an obvious thing we might gently remind them."
Still, despite Wintour's ban, snap-happy celebs have broken the rule many times, including Kylie Jenner's infamous bathroom selfie from the 2017 affair.
Age Limit
Technically, you must be 18 years or older to attend the big event, with organizers confirming the age restriction ahead of the 2018 Met Gala after Maddie Ziegler revealed she was unable to attend because she was only 15. "I can't go, because I'm not old enough!" she told The Hollywood Reporter.
"It's not an appropriate event for people under 18," the event's organizer explained to THR, with the new age limit going into effect that year.
Prior to 2018, some of the youngest attendees included siblings Jaden Smith and Willow Smith attending in 2016 when they were 17 and 15, respectively, Elle Fanning making her debut at the event when she was just 13, and Hailee Steinfeld attending her first Met Gala in 2011 at age 14.
But there seems to be a loophole for the younger fashionistas in Hollywood: A minor may tag along if their parents are in attendance.
Who Picks the Outfits
While Wintour has final say over every attendee's attire, their looks technically do not have to be approved by the Vogue EIC (though she is aware of everything that gets to walk the famous carpet).
"Each celebrity has been chosen to wear a gown by a designer. It's like assignments," Andre Leon Talley said in The First Monday in May, with former Givenchy creative director Riccardo Tisci, who dressed Beyoncé and Madonna for the 2016 Met Gala, further explaining, "Each designer brings his own muse. You bring a person that most represents your aesthetic."
That means that, for the most part, a celebrity's look is up to the designer that invited them to the event.
Open to Interpretation
While each year's gala has a theme—this year's is "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion", 2019's was "Camp: Notes on Fashion"—there are no strict guidelines when it comes to a guest or designer's interpretation.
But how is the theme actually selected? It's a long process that starts well over a year before the first Monday of May, with Andrew Bolton, the tireless longtime curator of The Costume Institute at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, choosing something that is culturally relevant.
"What I try to do is work on a topic that seems timely, and that defines a cultural shift that's happening or is about to happen," he explained to Vogue. "We always try to have a menu of shows that are dynamic, that go back and forth on subjects from the past and the present, between thematic shows and monographic ones of a single designer. We try to mix it up."
After he narrows down his search, he presents it for approval to the museum's director before Wintour then signs off on it about one year ahead of time.
"It would be difficult to do it without her support," the esteemed British curator explained. "Anna works out what sponsors would be appropriate for the exhibition. Sometimes I have an idea, and it's less of a big idea or popular idea, which is not terribly appealing to sponsors."
What Actually Happens Inside the Event
Once the guests have walked the red carpet and survived the iconic steps, they then greet Wintour and the other hosts (2024's class includes Bad Bunny, Zendaya, Chris Hemsworth and Jennifer Lopez) in a receiving line, which generally takes quite a bit of time with all the air kissing and exchanging of pleasantries.
After that, they are invited to walk through The Costume Institute's exhibition before it opens to the public. Then it's time to eat, mingle and network, with music, dancing and performances from the likes Rihanna and Lady Gaga.
Performance Anxiety
Speaking of the high-profile performers, a lot of the stress in terms of planning the Met Gala stems from the entertainment aspect of the night.
As infamously documented in The First Monday in May, Ward Durrett faced a major budgetary issue when it came to booking Rihanna for that year's gala.
"It's about twice as much as any performer we've ever had," she said of Rihanna's undisclosed fee after having a conversation on the phone with someone from the superstar's team. "They're not interested in making it come down any further."
Eventually, Wintour was called to step in and figure out the situation.
Security Measures
Celebrities are allowed to bring their own security guards to the event, in addition to the ones hired by the Museum for the red carpet.
But really, the objects that require the most security detail are the jewels. One year, Lively wore $3.5 million worth of baubles, while Karlie Kloss was once draped in $2.5 million worth of Forevermark jewels for the event.
"The full security process is kept top secret because of the incredibly high value of the pieces involved, but there is always a security guard present until the pieces are safely returned," a Forevermark rep told E! News. Additional security measures are also taken, like RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) trackers and video monitoring.
So yes, Ocean's 8 definitely got that aspect of the Met Gala right.
Where the Gowns Go
Given that many dresses are custom-made for the Met Gala or are pulled from designer's couture archives, it's rare that celebrities are allowed to keep their gowns. More often than not, they go back to the design house to be archived.
Though, in 2018, Balmain's Olivier Rousteing teamed up with Bono's RED to auction off custom pieces worn by celebs such as Jennifer Lopez, Alex Rodriguez, Trevor Noah, with 100 percent of the proceeds going toward the foundation's Global Fund.
COVID-19 Protocols
For 2021's event, attendees were required to wear face masks and provide proof of their COVID-19 vaccination, which led to rapper Nicki Minaj choosing not to partake in the fashionable festivities.
"They want you to get vaccinated for the Met," Minaj posted on Twitter. "if I get vaccinated it won't [be] for the Met. It'll be once I feel I've done enough research. I'm working on that now. In the meantime my loves, be safe. Wear the mask with 2 strings that grips your head & face. Not that loose one."
A version of this story was first published on Saturday, April 29, 2023 at 7 a.m. PT.
