The Met Gala was a $26 million affair for the Costume Institute’s coffers, a record for the only self-funded New York museum department, but also for the history of cultural philanthropy in New York.
ANSA Agency The Met Gala, New York’s party of the year – Fashion – Ansa.it Demonstrations against the war in Gaza out, 400 VIPs in (ANSA)Last year the proceeds from the party combined with the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition were ‘only’ 22 million, ten million more than 2014. Results that put the so-called ‘East Coast Oscars’ well above other philanthropic events organized in New York for the city’s cultural institutions: the latest gala for the New York City Ballet stopped at four million, while the charity banquet for the Natural History Museum did not reach 2.5. The Met Gala left other events at the same museum in the dust: last year the Art and Artist Gala raised 4.4 million dollars. It all stems from an inconsistency: for decades the Metropolitan considered the department that houses its historical costumes not up to the standard of great art. The Costume Institute does not receive funds from the municipality or from the museum itself which has confined its galleries to an underground area which can be accessed by descending from the ancient Egypt wing. All this is about to change: in the plans to reorganize the spaces, the Costume Institute will occupy those, at the main entrance, where the shop is located today.
The Gala, inaugurated in 1948 to remedy the lack of financing, has become a goose that lays golden eggs since Anna Wintour took the reins in 1999, transforming the party for New York well into an event in which celebrities, sponsors and brands they attract immense profits. The prices of the gala have increased considerably in parallel with the attention for the event: exactly three times compared to 2015, the 75 thousand dollars per ticket for 2024 – 15 thousand more than the average salary in the United States – dwarfs the 50 thousand of the year last and 35 thousand in 2022. Obviously, if your name is Zendaya or Kim Kardashian you don’t pay: it’s the brands that buy entire tables for 350 thousand dollars and compete with the privilege of dressing and accessorizing celebrities.
Then there are the sponsors, this year the Spanish brand Loewe and TikTok. Like other ‘benefactors’ in the past – for example Apple or Instagram – the Chinese minivideo giant did not want to reveal the extent of the contribution. This year there were around 400 guests, including billionaires such as Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, former mayor Michael Bloomberg and Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman who contributed $5 million to the gala in 2018.
Such opulence has provoked criticism. Pro-Gaza protest marches attempted to approach the museum to disturb the diners, while the employees of Condé Nast (the publishing group of which Wintour is at the top) concluded an agreement in principle with the employees’ union avoiding threatened protests in the near the red carpet. Meanwhile, on the eve of the Met Gala, a counter-event was organized in Brooklyn to benefit organizations that help the poor pay doctors: “The Met is a fun distraction – Molly Gaebe, one of the organizers – but it is totally disconnected from the rest of the world.”
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