How Is The Theme Chosen? All Your Met Gala Questions, Answered

The first Monday in May has become synonymous with the Met Gala. Outrageous costumes and gorgeous haute couture are all par for the course at the annual event, and watching some of the most influential people in the world ascend the grand steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art never fails to both shock and delight us.

If you're even vaguely tapped into celebrity culture or the goings on in the fashion industry, then you probably spend a significant portion of the day poring over the fashion and critiquing it in your group chats. Which means you probably also have questions about the event itself. Like, what is the Met Gala? How much does it cost to attend, and how are people invited? And who decides the theme, anyway? Ahead, we answer all of those questions and more.

While the Met Gala is best known for being one of the most exclusive events of the year, it also serves a specific function. The event marks the opening of the annual spring exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute and is a fundraiser for the Institute. Since its inception in 1946 (two years before the first Met Gala), the Costume Institute has been the only curatorial department at The MET that is required to raise its own funds, and thus, the Met Gala was born.

The Met Gala is undeniably successful in raising funds, and according to The New York Times, the 2024 gala raised a record $26 million. It's also a powerful branding exercise for Vogue. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the magazine saw 74 million views across its website and social media channels for the 2024 gala, a 30% year-over-year increase. This was accompanied by 2.1 billion video views in just seven days, representing a 73% increase compared to 2023. Those are some big numbers!

The first Met Gala was hosted by fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert in 1948. Predictably, a lot has changed in the 77 years since, and what was once a more modest banquet dinner is now the most significant event in the annual fashion calendar.

The Met Gala is held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The red carpet is held on the museum's grand staircase, which you might recognise from Gossip Girl, though it is completely transformed for the gala each year, with a unique carpet spanning the steps, and grand curtains protecting the red carpet arrivals from the public's prying eyes.

Although the inaugural gala took place in 1948, the annual theme was introduced decades later, in 1973, with the first one being “The World of Balenciaga.” In the years since, the Met Gala theme has always aligned with the opening of The Costume Institute's spring exhibition, with the dress code dictating that attendees must wear costumes that celebrate the theme of the exhibition itself.

While many people assume Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue, chooses the Met Gala theme each year, that's not the whole picture. Since the theme of the event depends on the subject of the annual spring exhibit at The MET's Costume Institute, it's the Institute's curator in charge (currently Andrew Bolton), who selects the theme that must then be signed off by the museum’s director and president for approval, before being presented to Wintour for her final sign-off.

Over the years, Bolton hasn't been shy about his close working relationship with Wintour, so on a purely speculative basis, we're sure she's heavily involved in this process from the beginning. "It would be difficult to do it without her support," Bolton previously told Vogue France. "Anna works out what sponsors would be appropriate for the exhibition. Sometimes I have an idea, and it’s less of a big idea or popular idea, which is not terribly appealing to sponsors."

Since 1995, the Met Gala has been hosted by the magazine's editor-in-chief since 1988, Anna Wintour. Though it's always been a hot ticket, the grand scale of the event is credited to Wintour, who was responsible for transforming the red carpet into the most watched fashion event of the year.

Each year, Wintour also announces a small group of co-chairs, who join her as hosts and welcome the star-studded guests to the Met Gala. For 2025, Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky and Pharrell Williams are the selected co-chairs alongside Wintour.

The short answer to whether anyone can go to the Met Gala is no. Each year, the guest list is meticulously pored over by Wintour herself, so without her stamp of approval, you're unlikely to find yourself on the elusive 600-strong guest list.

Generally speaking, you need to be extremely rich and/or famous, married to someone extremely rich and/or famous, very influential, donate a lot of money to the Costume Institute, work at Vogue, or perform at the event to get an invite. Even amongst the most influential circles, invitees still need to have a cosy relationship with a fashion house or brand (Saint Laurent and Amazon are just two examples) that has bought a table to receive an invitation.

In recent years, the guest list has also expanded beyond A+++ list celebrities, high-profile politicians, and millionaires to include social media content creators. Although this is somewhat contentious among Met Gala purists, it also makes sense when you consider that social media platforms have become major sponsors for the event. Creators like Emma Chamberlain have even hosted the official Vogue red carpet live stream, so we can only assume that Vogue and Wintour are on board with the development.

In 2025, Instagram is one of the major sponsors of both the exhibition and the gala, and while that may indicate a rise in creators walking the red carpet, this may not necessarily be the case. In 2024, TikTok was a lead sponsor. However, very few TikTok creators were in attendance. This was in sharp contrast to 2022, when creators such as Addison Rae and Avani Gregg attended, sparking controversy around the Met Gala guest list.

The dollar value of a Met Gala ticket has changed significantly since the inaugural 1948 gala, when tickets reportedly cost $50 USD each. In 2025, guests will be paying substantially more for their tickets, with seats reportedly costing $35,000 USD, according to WWD, and tables starting at $200,000 USD. That's roughly $ 54,500 AUD per ticket, and over $ 300,000 AUD for a table.

That said, there's no booking link that's sent out to publicists around the world for celebrities to fight over like tickets to the Eras Tour. Usually, brands like Amazon and TikTok, or fashion houses like Saint Laurent and Louis Vuitton, will purchase an entire table and invite brand ambassadors and key celebrities to attend on their behalf, so technically, the celebrity incurs no cost to attend.

Back in 2012, model Kate Upton told The Hollywood Reporter that she paid Anna Wintour $25,000 USD for a single ticket, and while we respect the initiative, we have doubts that it would happen today. And if it did, Wintour's price would likely be far higher.

Although photography and social media posting are strictly banned at the Met Gala (a rule that is usually, though not always, followed), the event is basically what you'd imagine.

After walking the red carpet, attendees are treated to a cocktail hour, followed by a tour of the exhibition and a formal dinner. Each year, attendees are also treated to a performance by a high-profile musician, who in previous years has included Ariana Grande and Rihanna.