Tonight, the Metropolitan Museum of Art will play host to one of the biggest fund-raising events and starriest parties of the year: the annual Costume Institute Benefit or, as it’s been known for years, the Met Gala.
The event, which raises millions of dollars for the museum’s self-funding fashion wing, has become known for its audacious red carpet, with a highly exclusive guest list handpicked by Anna Wintour, the longtime Vogue editor and Condé Nast executive.
But this year’s event has been unusually shadowed by drama. The union representing employees of Condé Nast publications including Bon Appétit, GQ, Vanity Fair and Vogue escalated the stakes in its long-running contract negotiations on Saturday, telling the company in a video posted on X that if management didn’t meet the union at the bargaining table, its members would “meet you at the Met.”
But the possibility of a work stoppage and picket line during Vogue’s biggest night was averted early Monday morning, when Condé management and the union reached a tentative agreement on the terms of a contract.
Although the guest list for the gala is kept strictly under wraps, some famous faces are a surer bet than others. Bad Bunny, Chris Hemsworth, Jennifer Lopez and Zendaya will all be joining Ms. Wintour as co-chairs of the event. Some superstars like Rihanna have let slip in interviews that they are planning to attend. But apart from stray comments to the press, eager fans have little to go on besides poring over social media to see which of their favorite celebrities were spotted in New York City over the weekend.
But fashion is the main event here. The dress code for the gala on Monday night is “Garden of Time,” an apparent reference to a 1962 short story by the British writer J.G. Ballard in which aristocrats living in a walled estate are menaced by the advance of a violent rabble. But the theme also nods to the subject of the spring exhibition, titled “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.”
