How To Never Get Invited Back To The Met Gala

Fashion's biggest night is here, and celebrities will once again grace the Met Gala in their most glamorous attires. However, Anna Wintour won't be opening the prestigious doors to just anyone.

The Vogue editor has hosted the event for nearly three decades and always tries to accommodate the industry's finest in her exclusive guest list.

While she has a flexible formula for choosing Met Gala attendees, the same rule doesn't apply to those who cross a line. Here's why some fans' favorites will never score another invite from Wintour.

The Met Gala is an annual fundraising event that benefits the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in Manhattan. Each year, the most famous faces in Hollywood flaunt their fashionable pieces on the museum's iconic steps while abiding by Wintour's rules.

The longtime media executive opened up about the regulations celebrities have to follow during an appearance on CBS News last May. Joined by Andrew Bolton, a museum curator, the duo revealed the crucial rules are: "No smoking and no touching the artwork."

"Those would be no-nos," Bolton said, revealing that several stars had smoked in the restrooms despite the strict rule. The offenders list includes Bella Hadid, Dakota Johnson, and Marc Jacobs.

The trio was caught among other celebrities puffing it up in the bathroom, which reportedly caused the Met Gala to receive a letter from the New York City Department of Health in 2017.

Apart from those who break Wintour's rules, other celebrities are eligible for the exclusive guest list based on varying factors. The event's organizer explained that there isn't a strict formula for choosing attendees, saying:

"It depends on the year. It depends on the subject of the exhibition. Really, there's no clear answer to that."

Wintour noted that it sometimes depended on the event's theme or the state of the industry, adding: "We're always interested in trying to reflect a cultural moment and what we feel is happening at the world in any given time."

Given that there's no strict formula for scoring an invite to the Met Gala, some celebrities may feel robbed of an invite despite their fame. For those who might think Wintour snubbed them, the Vogue editor had a powerful reminder.

According to the 74-year-old, missing out on a Met Gala event wasn't the end of the world. In her words:

"You know, there's always another year, and every year we try and make it different, have different people come. So obviously, there's always next year."

However, playing by Wintour's rules isn't the only requirement to attend the Met Gala, as celebrities must pay $30,000 for a solo ticket. If they are attending as a group, a table reportedly goes for $275,000.

During her interview, Wintour clarified why the 2023 Met Gala was a tribute to Karl Lagerfeld. She stressed that the late designer deserved to be honored for his contributions to the fashion industry, saying:

"When we go back and we look at the work that he has created over so many years, I think that deserves celebration. It deserves acknowledgment. I think there will be extraordinary interest in this exhibition."

However, her decision to honor Lagerfeld sparked severe backlash over the late designer's fat-phobic and sexist comments. On that topic, Wintour emphasized that she wasn't celebrating the deceased's life but his work.

"Karl was provocative, and he was full of paradoxes. And I think sometimes he would say things … to shock, and not necessarily things that he believed in," the media executive explained.

Each year, the Met Gala picks an exciting theme that tests the creativity of celebrities and their fashion designers. However, The Blast reported that this year's theme is a bit confusing compared to past events.

Wintour addressed the issue during a recent interview, revealing that this year's theme, "Sleeping Beauties: The Garden of Time," was a tricky concept. In her words:

"Well, this exhibition broke my cardinal rule, which is that when we came up with the title Sleeping Beauties, it's wonderful, and poetic, and romantic, but it actually could be many, many things."

Wintour continued: "Andrew [Bolton, the curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art] also thought of the dress first; what are we going to say to people to wear to this night? And he said, 'Well, what about Garden of Times?' I fear that we've unleashed a lot of confusion out there, for which I deeply apologize."