By Kayla DeKraker
Every May, the Met Gala, a star-sudden fashion event, hits the red carpet, but did you know it comes with a cost?
Although stars need to be invited to attend, a ticket to join the fashionable event costs a whopping $75,000. Celebrities can also opt for a 10-person table which costs $350,000.
The historic event always take place on the first Monday in May, which fell on the 6th this year. The fundraiser invites celebrities from “film, fashion, music, sports, politics and social media,” and every year has a theme.
This year’s theme? “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.”
The inspiration came from Barnard professor Monica L. Miller’s 2009 book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity. The book is “a pioneering cultural history of the black dandy, from his emergence in Enlightenment England to his contemporary incarnations in the cosmopolitan art worlds of London and New York.”
A synopsis explains, “Dandyism was initially imposed on black men in eighteenth-century England, as the Atlantic slave trade and an emerging culture of conspicuous consumption generated a vogue in dandified black servants.”
“What makes it possible to translate Monica’s book ‘Slaves to Fashion’ into an exhibition is our collection of high-style menswear, which serves as a foundation for imagining and realizing a sartorial history of Black dandyism,” said Andrew Bolton, Costume Institute Curator in Charge.
The Met Gala first began in 1948 by publicist Eleanor Lambert. The original goal was to “raise funds for the then-newly founded Costume Institute.” Lambert also created the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 1962.
The Costume Institute is “collection of more than thirty-three thousand objects [that] represent…seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present…The collection is open for research appointments by scholars, graduate students, doctoral students, and designers in relevant fields.”
The first Met Gala tickets cost $50 each, a far cry from the outrageous price today. In total, the event has raised over $175 million total for the Costume Institute.
Although the Met Gala gradually became more prestigious through the years, it wasn’t until 2004 that a significant shift was noticed. That year’s theme, “Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the 18th Century,” set the stage for more elaborate and fancy outfits.
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In recent years, themes have included “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” (2024), Karl Lagerfeld (2023), and “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion” and “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” for 2021 and 2022, respectively.
The Met Gala makes headlines every year, whether that’s due to unusual fashion choices, the price of tickets or the celebrities in attendance. But one thing’s for certain — it will continue to cause a buzz for years to come.
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