“Party of the Year”: Wintour: Met Gala still makes me nervous

Often referred to as the “party of the year,” the Met Ball is an annual fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute. The proceeds from the “Costume Institute Benefit” form the annual budget of the institute, which is now named after Wintour.

Wintour is chairing the gala, which was first held in 1948, for the 29th time this year and has already raised more than $500 million in donations for the Metropolitan Museum and its Costume Institute, said the Austrian museum director Max Hollein. The Met Gala is now the largest museum fundraiser in the world – and this year it will bring in more donations than ever before, Wintour added.

“Many years ago, this was a small event and, to be honest, sometimes we had to chase people to get them to attend,” Wintour continued. “Now fashion is everywhere (…) and we have no problems filling the seats at the gala.”

Dress code this time: “Fashion is art”

The “Costume Art” exhibition is scheduled to open this evening (Tuesday night CEST) with the star-studded spectacle, which traditionally takes place on the first Monday in May. The dress code is: “Fashion is art”. This year, the Costume Institute’s new exhibition rooms will also be opened, for which a souvenir shop has been converted. “We used to sell refrigerator magnets there,” said museum director Hollein.

Stars such as singers Beyoncé, Sabrina Carpenter and Doja Cat, actresses Nicole Kidman, Zoë Kravitz, Lena Dunham and ex-tennis professional Venus Williams are expected. She has loved fashion since she was a child, Williams said at the press conference. “It wasn’t always just about tennis – to be honest, it was always just about fashion.”

This year the event is co-financed and co-hosted by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sánchez Bezos. New York’s left-wing mayor Zohran Mamdani, whose predecessor was often seen at the spectacle, has already publicly canceled the event.