Met Gala 2023: Date, time, host, theme, ticket, all you need to know

Last year, it took 275,000 bright pink roses to adorn Metropolitan Museum of Art for Met Gala, biggest night in fashion and one of biggest concentrations of star power anywhere.

It remains to be seen how museum’s Great Hall will be decorated come first Monday in May, but one thing is t in question: those entering it will look spectacular. me centers on late designer Karl Lrfeld, who made an indelible mark on luxury fashion in his long career at Chanel, Fendi and elsewhere. It is a me t without controversy — Lrfeld was kwn for contentious remarks about everything from #MeToo to curvy bodies.

Want to kw what to expect as big day approaches? t to worry. We’ve dusted off our annual guide for you here, with some key updates.

WHAT IS MET GALA ANYWAY?

It started in 1948 as a society midnight supper, and wasn’t even at Met.

Fast forward 70-plus years, and Met Gala is something totally different, one of most photographed events in world for its head-spinning red carpet — though carpet isn’t always red.

We’re talking Rihanna as a bejeweled pope. Zendaya as Cinderella with a light-up gown. Katy Perry as a chandelier morphing into a hamburger. Also: Beyoncé in her “naked dress.”Billy Porter as an Egyptian sun god, carried on a litter by six shirtless men. And Lady Gaga’s 16-minute striptease. And, last year, host Blake Lively’s Versace dress — a tribute to iconic New York architecture — that changed colors in front of our eyes.

n re’s Kim Kardashian, bringing commitment to a whole or level. (It’s reasonably safe to expect her again this year, because why wouldn’t she be coming?) One year, she wore a dress so tight, she admitted she had to take breathing lessons beforehand. Two years ago, she wore a dark bodysuit that covered even her face. But n last year she truly stole carpet, showing up in Marilyn Monroe’s actual, rhinestone-studded “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” dress (borrowed from Ripley’s Believe It or t! museum), changing minute she got inside to protect it. re was controversy later over suspicions, denied by Ripley’s, that she’d caused some dam. But still — that was an entrance.

It’s important to te that party has a purpose — last year, evening earned $17.4 million for Met’s Costume Institute, a self-funding department. Yes, that’s a heckuva lot for a gala. It also launches annual spring exhibit that brings hundreds of thousands of visitors to museum.

But it’s carpet itself that draws world’s eyes, with guest list — strategically withheld until last minute — featuring a collection of tables from movies, music, fashion, sports, politics and social media that arguably makes for highest celebrity watt-per-square-foot of any party in world.

WHO’S HOSTING THIS YEAR?

This year’s five hosts are drawn from television (Emmy-winning writer, actor and producer Michaela Coel ); movies (Oscar-winning actor Penélope Cruz, who has worked with Chanel for more than 20 years); sports ( recently retired tennis superstar Roger Federer ); and music (Grammy-winning songstress Dua Lipa ). Finally re is Vogue’s Anna Wintour (do we need to tell you she’s in fashion?) running whole thing as usual.

IS RE ALWAYS A ME?

Yes. As mentioned above, me is Karl Lrfeld, and exhibit, “Karl Lrfeld: A Line of Beauty,” looks at “ designer’s stylistic vocabulary as expressed in aestic mes that appear time and again in his fashions from 1950s to his final collection in 2019.” Once again, it has been created by Met’s star curator, Andrew Bolton.

DOES EVERYONE FOLLOW ME?

t really. Some eschew it and just go for big and crazy. But expect some guests to carefully research me and come in perfect sync. It was hard to beat carpet, for example, when me was tied to “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and Catholic Imagination” and Rihanna came as pope, Zendaya channeled Joan of Arc, and Perry navigated crowd with a set of ermous angel wings. For Lrfeld, clos may be a bit more, er, down to earth.

HOW MUCH DO I HAVE TO PAY FOR A MET GALA TICKET?

Wrong question. You cant just buy a ticket. right question is: If I were famous or powerful and got invited, how much would it cost?

OK, IF I WERE FAMOUS OR POWERFUL AND GOT INVITED, HOW MUCH WOULD IT COST?

Well, you might t pay yourself. Generally companies buy tables. A fashion label would n host its desired celebrities. This year, cost has gone up, as it does every few years due to rising expenses: It’s w $50,000 for an individual ticket, and tables start at $300,000.

SO WHO GETS INVITED?

This year, re will be roughly 400 guests — similar to recent years but still lower than pre-pandemic highs of 500-600. Wintour and her team still get to approve every guest.

Trying to predict? Take out your pen and jot down some of your favorite names, buzzier better. Newly minted Oscar winners, for example, are a good bet. Broadway is a special favorite of Wintour’s. She also loves tennis — this is t fashionable Federer’s first Met Gala. w, cross everyone off your list except very top. At this gala, everybody’s A-list.

THAT MUST BE AN EXAGGERATION.

t really. Ask Tina Fey. She went in 2010 and later described walking around trying to find somebody “rmal” to sit and talk with. That ended up being Barbara Walters.

HOW CAN I WATCH?

You can watch whole carpet unfold on a Vogue livestream. If you’re in New York, you can also join fans across street, behind barricades, on Fifth Avenue or even furr east on Madison. Timothée Chalamet has been kwn to greet fans.

DO WE KW WHO’S COMING? AND WHO ISN’T?

It’s secret. But reports slip out, often about who is t coming and why. You can count on various celebrity Chanel ambassadors showing up. Watch this .

WHAT HAPPENS INSIDE?

Entering museum, guests walk past what is usually an impossibly ermous flower arrangement in lobby, with perhaps an orchestra playing nearby, and over to cocktails. Or, y head to view exhibit. Cocktails are 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., but most famous — or those who plan to make biggest entrance — sometimes come (fashionably) later.

Around 8 p.m., guests are summoned to dinner — perhaps by a team of buglers (“Are y going to do that between every course?” actor Gary Oldman asked aloud one year).

IS IT FUN FOR EVERYONE?

Occasionally, someone says . Fey, in a comic rant to David Letterman in 2015, described gala as a “jerk parade” and said it included everyone you’d ever want to punch, if you had millions of arms. Amy Schumer left early in 2016 and said later she felt awkward and like it was “a punishment.”

SO Y NEVER CAME BACK, RIGHT?

Wrong. Schumer was back in 2017. And n last year again.

Hey, this is Met Gala.