It may be the most highly anticipated event on celebrities’ social calendars, but since its inception in the late 1940s, the finer details remain shrouded in secrecy.
The first Monday of May is mere days away, meaning stars are once again set to ascend the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for “fashion’s biggest night.”
The 2026 Met Gala is sure to be one for the books, but burning questions surrounding the goings-on behind closed doors remain on everyone’s lips.
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What is the purpose of the Met Gala?
While we mere mortals may see it as an opportunity for Hollywood’s elite to flout status, it also functions as the primary source of funding for the Met’s Costume Institute.
Traditionally timed to coincide with the MMOA’s Spring Fashion Exhibition, the event is –first and foremost – just one massive fundraiser.
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The curatorial department is dedicated to collecting, conserving and studying over 33,000 fashion objects and accessories – which all collectively represent seven centuries of fashion history.
Year on year, the event raises 10s of millions of dollars towards maintaining the department in question.
What is this year’s theme?
The Met Gala’s theme and official dress code go hand-in-hand every year.
“Costume art” encapsulates this year’s iteration, while the “Fashion Is Art,” dress code encourages guests to interpret clothing as creativity.
As revealed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Instagram in November, the theme will focus on “on Western art from prehistory to the present.”
“[It] will consider depictions of the dressed body from across the Met’s curatorial departments, pairing garments with art objects spanning some 5,000 years,” Vogue revealed.
If A-list attendees meet the brief, we can expect to see looks that blur the lines between wearable garments and fine art; focusing on dramatic silhouettes, anatomical designs and artistic textures.
The theme, as per, is fitting; set to inaugurate the Met Costume Institute’s new, nearly 12,000-square-foot home Condé M. Nast Galleries.
Can anyone buy a ticket?
Short answer: no, one does not simply “buy a ticket” to the Met Gala.
Alas, the event is a highly exclusive affair not meant for mere mortals like you or I.
To maintain said exclusivity and its general air of mystery, attendance is strictly by invitation-only, and guest lists are carefully curated by none other than former Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour.
How much does it cost to attend?
A table at the Met Gala costs a pretty penny, to say the absolute least.
While individual tickets cost a slightly more conservative sum of roughly $139,000, tables often exceed $480,000 – usually bought by brands looking to host celebrities.
These prices are certainly a far cry from the original ticket pricing, which was a considerably more cost-effective $70.
What actually happens inside?
In spite of countless fittings and early-morning, hours-long makeovers, what we see from celebs walking the carpet is often not what they choose to present once inside the event.
According to former Met Gala dinner server Mike Hartman via Insider, some celebrities had “personal rooms to themselves” at the 2018 event, so they could “change or do fix-ups” following their respective red carpet photo-ops.
And much like the event’s guest list, Wintour is also right across the seating plan, implementing a strict no-couples seating policy.
That’s right; not only are guests unable to request a plus one for their significant other unless pre-approved by Wintour, couples generally aren’t allowed to sit next to each other.
In 2016 Met Gala documentary First Monday in May, former director of special projects at Vogue Sylvana Ward Durrett revealed it was a cardinal rule: “Never seat spouses next to each other.”
“The whole point of these things is to meet new people and to be interested in what others are doing. What’s the point if you come here to hang out with your husband?”
Once through the doors, mingling and art-viewing commences, followed by a highly secretive performance kept under-wraps until the moment they take the stage.
What items (or behaviours) are banned?
All the usual suspects are not permitted within the highly secretive event.
Phones and selfies are a huge no-no – though often celebrities are seen in flagrant disregard for this rule through the so-called ‘bathroom loophole.’
Over the years, the Met toilets have become a tolerated VIP area, where rules are bent due to the private nature of the space.
Far from the prying eyes of event organisers and official photographers alike, celebs often retreat to the toilets for extended periods.
Surprisingly – and reportedly owing to an aversion to bad breath – food is often devoid of ingredients such as onion, garlic and parsley.
According to the New York Post, onion, garlic and parsley are prohibited to avoid issues with bad breath.
Bruschetta is also off the menu on the off-chance – God forbid – that it spills onto a guest’s outfit.
Which celebrities have been blacklisted?
There are but two celebrities who are confirmed as persona non grata at the glitzy event; US President Donald Trump, and Project Runway host Tim Gunn.
Donald Trump remains the only celebrity that Anna Wintour has personally admitted to blacklisting, doing so during a 2017 appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden
When asked which celebrity she’d never allow back to the Met Gala, her response was swift and decisive: “Donald Trump.”
Having previously been a regular attendee throughout the 2000’s alongside Melania Trump, his last appearance came in 2012, years before his presidential campaign first kicked off.
Tim Gunn, meanwhile, confirmed his own ban to E! News, revealing he had been permanently disinvited after sharing a rather unflattering anecdote about Wintour
Gunn claimed to have witnessed the editor and curator of the event being “carried down five flights of stairs” by two bodyguards following an undisclosed fashion show, leading to his permanent ban from the event.
Other celebs rumoured to have been barred from the event include the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Tina Fey, Zayn Malik and Josh Hartnett.
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