Held every first Monday in May, the Met Gala was designed as the ultimate red carpet to cap awards season by Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue chief and Conde Nast’s global editorial director. Wintour, 74, took charge of the Met Gala in 1995, and as the chair of the annual fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, transformed the dusty highbrow dinner into the most-anticipated annual celebration of fashion and celebrity that we know today, a pop culture event – it’s the Madonna concert of red carpets – with couture clothes.
What makes this event stand out as a talking point with endless buzz is that the A-List guests submit to theme set by the Institute: You aren’t just looking at the usual suspects in random Project Runway fashion; instead they’re judged based on how well they have scored given the parameters of the theme. Naturally, the theme also contributes to carnival-like displays (hello, Lizzo) and unintended hilarity (hello, Lana Del Rey) – the gala simply sparks joy. This year, the dress code is ‘The Garden of Time’, a quote from the JG Ballard’s 1962 short story, tenuously linked to The Costume Institute exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, titled Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.
