Met Gala 2023: Everything you need to know
As the one-week countdown closes in, here’s your guide to this year’s theme, dress code, hosts and more
The biggest night in fashion’s calendar returns next week on the first Monday of May – which happens to fall on 1 May this year – at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
The 2023 Met Gala theme, Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty, honours the former Chanel creative director and design powerhouse who died in 2019 aged 85 from pancreatic cancer. As the one-week countdown closes in, here’s everything you need to know about the star-studded event.
What is the Met Gala for?
Officially known as the Costume Institute Benefit, it is an annual fundraising gala held at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art to raise money for the museum’s fashion wing, which houses a collection of more than 33,000 fashion items and accessories from the 15th century to present day, according to the museum.
The Met Gala is the museum’s main source of annual funding, and it was first introduced as a gala event in 1948 by the publicity doyenne Eleanor Lambert as an opener for the exhibition that would ensue in the museum.
Since 1995, though, Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour has been the mastermind behind it, and has elevated its status to an exclusive celebrity night spanning names from fashion, film, politics, and business. For context, last year’s Met Gala earned a record $17.4 million (€15.8million).
What is the theme?
The gala event is generally themed to the exhibition that follows in the museum. This year, Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty, is a homage to one of fashion’s most recognisable and impactful designers who was the long-time creative director of Chanel, Fendi, and his namesake label.
What does this mean for the dress code?
"At its heart the exhibition will look at the evolution of Karl’s two dimensional drawings into three dimensional garments,” Andrew Bolton, the Met's curator, told Women’s Wear Daily.
So, we can expect to see a lot of Chanel, Fendi, and Lagerfeld on the night – some contemporary, some vintage, and some archive – as well as designs from his early days with Chloe, Balmain, and Patou.
The event is a notable black tie, Tinseltown extravaganza, so expect little subtlety. However, in comparison to previous year’s themes, it will invoke less costume-dressing, and more red carpet.
For instance, 2019’s theme, Camp: Notes on Fashion, was a celebration of artifice and exaggeration, while the 2018 theme, Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination, saw Rihanna dress as the Pope.
Who are this year’s hosts?
Anna Wintour will be joined this year by the gala’s co-chairs: Penélope Cruz, Michaela Coel, Roger Federer, and Dua Lipa.
Who can attend?
The Met Gala is strictly invite only, with ticket prices costing $50,000 and tables costing $300,000. But it’s not just about who can actually afford to go: every invite must be cleared by Wintour and this year, there are about 400 guests expected, a spokeswoman for the Costume Institute told the New York Times.
It’s likely Lagerfeld’s personal and professional network will influence the guest list too, like Chanel ambassadors and friends of the brand.
How can I watch it?
Viewing methods are limited, and Vogue’s live stream – its website and social media channels – are currently your best way of catching all the night’s affairs in real time, which kicks off at 6:30pm EST, or 11:30pm Irish time.
The live stream will be hosted by American actress La La Anthony, writer and TV personality Derek Blasberg, and Saturday Night Live’s Chloe Fineman, while Gen-Z’s favourite content creator Emma Chamberlain will also return as the special correspondent, according to Vogue.
And of course, there will be coverage here, as we round up the night’s best-dressed moments and fashion breakdowns.
