40 marieclaire.com.au
A
single ticket costs
about $39,000. A
table at the dinner, in
excess of $357,000.
Even so, there’s a wait-
ing list to get in, and
all attendees must be approved by Anna
Wintour. New York’s Met Ball, or Met
Gala Benefit (as it’s ocially known), is
fashion’s biggest, starriest night, and
often the most controversial. And the
theme for this year’s event, co-hosted by
Donatella Versace, Amal Clooney and
Rihanna, may be one of the most
debate-provoking yet: Heavenly Bodies:
Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.
Ostensibly, the ball serves as the
opening of the summer exhibition of
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s
Costume Institute. The theme of the
exhibition determines the gala’s dress
code. Previous themes have included
Punk: Chaos to Couture; Alexander
McQueen: Savage Beauty; and Anglo-
Mania: Tradition and Transgression in
British Fashion. The ball is a crucial
fundraising arm for the gallery, raising
more than $12 million USD in 2017 and
enabling the exhibitions to exist.
The involvement of Wintour, who
has been chairwoman since 1995, has
seen the ball evolve from a high-society
do into the world’s biggest red-carpet
extravaganza. For attendees, this isn’t
about showing of serious actor/artiste/
musician credentials; it’s all about
achieving maximum column inches/
Instagram likes/Facebook shares and
getting onto best-dressed lists. It’s about
snaring cosmetic and fashion-house
campaigns. It’s about being seen as part
of the creative elite. It’s about status.
Wintour has shrewdly maximised
the marketing tool of the red carpet to
make this one of the world’s most-
watched events. After all, it was at a Met
Ball that Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik
made their first red-carpet appearance
together in coordinating looks, Solange
Knowles took on Jay Z in a lift, and
Serena Williams debuted her baby
bump. Not to mention Rihanna’s yellow
Guo Pei gown with its five-metre train,
which made viral meme history in 2015
as “the giant omelette”.
Guests are given staggered arrival
times, so that the intensity can be man-
aged (and everyone gets their shot).
Dame Wintour traditionally goesModel Kendall Jenner
gives a little cheek in La Perla
at the 2017 Met Gala.