The highly anticipated Met Gala returns to New York this Monday, May 6.
It's an iconic night, where the Metropolitan Museum of Art becomes the spot to welcome worldwide stars and celebrities to the "party of the year." The Met Gala has done that for more than 70 years.
But how did this tradition start and become the event for fashion and art lovers?
The Costume Institute Benefit, also known as The Met Gala, began in 1948 as a midnight supper that invited guests could attend for fifty dollars a ticket, said the museum. Created by publicity doyenne Eleanor Lambert, who called the event the "Party of the Year," it raised funds to support The Costume Institute and celebrated the opening of its major annual exhibition.
The most radical change would have occurred in 1973 when Diana Vreeland, who was the editor of Vogue, took the reins and focused on fashion. That spring, Vreeland joined the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a special consultant to The Costume Institute, and had the first of her legendary exhibitions, "The World of Balenciaga."
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Because of her work, the event started to have a more extravagant journey and themes that honored legendary designers and iconic movements.
During Vreeland's years as special consultant to The Costume Institute (1972–1989), the annual event became a big party for both the social and art worlds, with big personalities such as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Pat Buckley serving as co-chairs.
It wasn't until 1995 that Anna Wintour, Vreeland's successor at Vogue, took over as co-chair. She has overseen the party ever since (excluding the 1996 and 1998 events). She also established the first Monday in May as the official date of the event, which takes a year to prepare.
Wintour is who made the Met Gala into one of the most visible and successful fundraisers in the world, attracting guests from the worlds of fashion, film, society, sports, business and music.
Andrew Bolton, curator of The Costume Institute, has chosen themes that are culturally relevant and at the same time leave room for imagination. The dress code for this year is "The Garden of Time" which is related to the theme "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion."
