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Getty Images / Mike Coppola
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While the entire point of the gala is to raise funds for the Met’s Costume Institute (it raised an impressive $12 million last year), it’s the attendees’ outfits which take center-stage. In recent years, a post-Lemonade Beyonce turned up looking like she’d skinned “Becky with the good hair” (in the best way possible), Jaden Smith carried his dreadlocks as an accessory, while a host of other celebrities have worn outfits that were crying out to become memes.
Below, everything you need to know about the Met Gala 2018.
What is the Met Gala?
The Met Gala is the annual fundraising event for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York City. The invite-only event is helmed by Vogue’s Anna Wintour who controls the extremely-exclusive guest list. (Only 600 people were invited to last year’s gala — and given the chance to purchase tickets for $30,000.)
When is the Met Gala?
The Met Gala is always on the first Monday in May; this year the event falls on May 7.
Where is Met Gala happening?
Like its name suggests, the Met Gala takes place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, otherwise known as the Met. The outside of the venue is closed off to the public and is transformed entirely, with stars posing for photos on the carpet.
Met Gala 2018 theme
This year’s Met Gala theme is “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.” The exhibition will explore fashion’s relationship with the Catholic church and features designs from Coco Chanel, John Galliano, and Cristóbal Balenciaga, alongside 40 pieces on loan from the Vatican.
Met Gala 2018 Hosts
Each year, the Met Gala invites celebrities to serve as honorary hosts for the event alongside Anna Wintour. Previous hosts have included Idris Elba, Taylor Swift, Gisele Bündchen and Tom Brady. This year’s hosts are Donatella Versace, Amal Clooney and Rihanna. We already knew Rihanna would be the stand-out celebrity at the event, but now she’s been promoted to co-host status, we predict that her outfit will rise to mark the occasion.
Met Gala 2018 Guests
Thanks to its exclusive guest list, which is hand-selected by co-chair, Anna Wintour, the Met Gala is almost entirely populated by A-Listers. Last year, for example, Kim Kardashian, Selena Gomez, Zendaya and Priyanka Chopra were all in attendance.
However, it’s safe to say that one celebrity in particular will not be coming back this year. On an episode of The Late Late Show with James Corden, Corden asked Wintour whose name, out of all her previous guests, would not be on this years clipboard. Her answer? Donald Trump.
The Met Gala 2018 theme could be its most-controversial yet
“We know it could be controversial for right wing or conservative Catholics and for liberal Catholics,” the exhibition’s Head curator Andrew Bolton told The New York Times last fall.
He continued, explaining that the exhibition will focus “on a shared hypothesis about what we call the Catholic imagination and the way it has engaged artists and designers and shaped their approach to creativity, as opposed to any kind of theology or sociology.”
Of course, the topic of religion is always going to be a delicate one, especially when it is thrown into the realm of fashion’s interpretation, and put under a theme like “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.” But, as Bolton says, there is a strong relationship between Catholicism and fashion, with many designers in the show coming from a Catholic background.
This does mean, of course, that there may be more drama on the Met Gala red carpet than usual in terms of wardrobe scrutiny. Only time will tell.
The Met Gala 2018 – What will celebrities wear?
Met Gala attendees are supposed to dress to fit with the exhibition, but most celebrities brazenly ignore the theme. Thankfully, we have Rihanna who has been killing in on the Met Gala red carpet of late. In 2015, the singer wore a meme-inspiring Guo Pei gown that perfectly matched the “China: Through the Looking Glass” theme, while at last year’s ode to Rei Kawakubo, Rihanna was one of the few stars to actually wear COMME des GARÇONS — and it was fresh off the runway.
There are a number of repeat offenders, however, who apparently couldn’t care less about the Gala’s chosen theme. Kim Kardashian, for example, tackled 2013’s “Punk: Chaos to Couture” by donning a skin-tight floral custom Givenchy dress that didn’t exactly scream punk.
Jaden Smith can naturally be counted on for bringing his own take to the theme, too; this is a guy who last year accessorized his ‘fit with the remains of his dreadlocks so we’re expecting big things.
Who are you looking forward to seeing at the Met Gala 2018? Let us know in the comments below.