Some Thoughts on the Met Gala

Diana Vreeland and Valentino Garavani attend the 1978 gala for "Diaghilev: Costumes and Designs of the Ballets Russes".

Few fashion events have managed to capture the public’s imagination quite like the Met Gala. What began as a relatively discreet fundraiser has, over time, transformed into a global phenomenon, one watched as closely for its red carpet as for the exhibition it is meant to celebrate. In that transformation, something more subtle has shifted as well.

In 1948, legendary fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert inaugurated what has become the Met Gala to raise funds for the newly opened Costume Institute. A tasteful event held at the Waldorf Astoria, it was conceived as an elegant “Midnight Supper”, an intimate gathering that Lambert affectionately referred to as “the party of the year”. Unlike today, the guest list was limited strictly to select donors, mostly members of high society and the fashion elite. There was no red carpet and the only media to cover the event was Women’s Wear Daily. This understated fundraiser was a very different event from what it has since become. After twenty one years at the helm, Lambert, a formidable force who helped shape the American fashion industry as we know it today, passed the torch to iconic editrix Diana Vreeland in 1971.

Mrs Vreeland brought her unique and theatrical brand of magic that defined first Harper’s Bazaar and then Vogue under her direction to the Costume Institute and its fundraising gala, giving it new life. With her extensive knowledge of fashion history, she introduced themed exhibitions and devised increasingly elaborate decor. She also introduced the celebrity element to the gala but in a very discerning way, limited to men and women of style and substance rather than celebrity for its own sake. Her guest lists were as carefully curated as her exhibitions, bringing an eclectic mix together: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Carolina Herrera and the Duchess of Windsor alongside pop culture icons such as Bianca Jagger, Andy Warhol and Elizabeth Taylor. Guests attended not just to be seen but to take part in something more considered, a true celebration of art, culture and personal style.  The Vreeland years were the golden age of the Met Gala. It is difficult not to look back on them with a certain nostalgia. 

In 1995, when Anna Wintour took over, the gala was still an elegant affair, not quite the spectacle it would later become. Early themes included “Cubism and Fashion”, “Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years”, and “Christian Dior”, the gala for which Diana, Princess of Wales was in attendance.

Much started to change with Kim Kardashian’s attendance in 2013, something that would have been unthinkable during the Lambert and Vreeland years. Her presence changed the tone of the event and paved the way for other reality television personalities, minor Hollywood starlets, and even social media influencers to attend, often in borrowed dresses selected by stylists or conceived in collaboration with a brand they represent in order to promote it, only for the look to be dry-cleaned and returned the next day. How unlike the old days before the widespread use of stylists, when attendees actually purchased and lived with their gowns over time, creating a lasting personal connection that is sadly lacking today. As the presence of celebrity continued to grow, the magic of the evening itself started to fade and what had once been an elegant fundraiser began to attract a different kind of attention, Where the exhibitions and the ideas behind them had once felt central to the evening, they now seem intentionally secondary to the spectacle unfolding outside. It’s difficult to say whether or not this shift might have happened naturally with the advent of social media.

While the Met Gala has grown in scale and influence, in substance it is sorely lacking. What was previously an inspired celebration of the art of fashion, rooted in history, personal style and a sense of occasion, now feels increasingly performative, shaped less by personal taste than the pursuit of visibility, where impact is often measured by how much attention a look can command or how many instagram likes one can accumulate. I can’t help but wonder what Mrs Lambert and Mrs Vreeland would make of it all?