Met Gala 2026 Honorary Co-Chairs Revealed

by

Jeff BezosandLauren Sánchez Bezosare rising the Met Gala ranks.

Following their announcement as sponsors for the 2026 gala on May 4th, the couple has now confirmed they will also be attending the event as honorary co-chairs, alongside Anna Wintour.

Lauren described her involvement as “such a fun and meaningful experience” during a March 3rd appearance on Today. She explained that she was incredibly honored when Anna asked her to co-chair and sponsor the Met Gala.

Lauren was thrilled to be asked to participate, but she was even more excited when she discovered the fundraiser’s theme was “Costume Art” and the dress code was “Fashion Is Art.”

The designer, who is 56 years old, shared the event’s central idea: ‘Fashion is art.’ She believes these designers are genuinely artistic, pointing out that Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dalí were close friends. While Dalí expressed himself through painting, Schiaparelli did so through her clothing designs.

Lauren said she’s really excited to see everyone’s outfits and celebrate the designers’ work. She’s truly looking forward to it.

The news about Jeff and Lauren’s participation follows the announcement, three months ago, that Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, and Venus Williams would be co-chairing the event, alongside Anna Wintour, who traditionally leads the yearly fashion event and fundraiser.

Venus and Nicole are frequent guests at the Gala, but this year marks Beyoncé’s first return to the event since 2016.

I’m so excited about the host committee for this year’s gala! We’ve got an incredible group of talented women leading the charge, including Zoë Kravitz, Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, Teyana Taylor, Misty Copeland, and Lena Dunham. They’re going to bring such amazing energy to the event.

With this year’s theme, we can expect some truly unforgettable outfits at the Met Gala. The dress code asks guests to think about how designers use the body as a starting point for their creations.

According to Andrew Bolton, curator of the Costume Institute, fashion – specifically how we dress – is the unifying element across all departments and galleries in the museum. He explained to Vogue that this idea served as the starting point for the exhibition, highlighting a shared theme throughout the entire collection.

Anna enjoys helping out whenever possible, but she’s usually unaware of what guests will be wearing until the event itself.

People often reach out to us for guidance, and we do our best to assist those we can,” the Vogue Global Editorial Director shared on Good Morning America in May. “But with some requests, we’re completely stumped.

The Met Gala is just two months away! Here’s a sneak peek at some of the event’s biggest secrets.

Attending the year’s most exclusive fashion event doesn’t come cheap. A single ticket will set you back $30,000, and reserving a table costs a staggering $275,000.

Luckily, not everyone needs to buy a ticket to the Met Gala. Anna Wintour often invites promising new designers, and celebrities who are showcasing a designer’s clothes usually don’t have to pay either.

Despite the high cost, many fashionable people still want it—there’s currently a waiting list.

Vintage store owner Cameron Silver, a frequent attendee of the event, told Page Six in 2017 that he knows people who are ready to go at a moment’s notice if a ticket becomes available. These individuals have their outfits prepared, even if they aren’t sure they’ll be able to attend until the last minute.

As a longtime follower of the Met Gala, I’ve noticed the guest list really changes the vibe. Sometimes it feels intimate with around 500 people, which is perfect, but in 2023 they had 800 attendees – honestly, it felt a little too crowded for my taste, being the biggest gathering they’ve ever had!

In 2017, Sylvana Ward Durrett of Vogue told Fast Company that they aim for a cozy and personal experience for attendees. To achieve this, they’ve significantly reduced the event size over the past few years, cutting the guest list by as much as 200 to 300 people.

Although the event is known for its luxury and glamour, the organizers aim for a sense of exclusivity, limiting attendance to around 500 guests – a number typically initiated by Anna Wintour. As Ward Durrett explained in the documentary The First Monday in May, they want to maintain an intimate atmosphere, as that’s what draws people to the event.

Just getting an invitation for a celebrity doesn’t automatically include their partner; the partner needs a separate invitation as well.

Planning for this major fashion event begins almost immediately after the previous year’s event, usually starting the Tuesday following the first Monday in May. It’s a year-round effort, involving around 100 people, including 10 who work for Vogue full-time.

Ward Durrett, who was a director of special projects at Vogue at the time, described her approach as relying on a single, comprehensive to-do list. She explained that this list grew constantly as projects neared completion, and the team reviewed it daily, even if some items were repeated.

Her first priority was the tent. From there, she detailed everything needed for it. Creating this kind of list helps her plan the entire event, ensuring nothing is overlooked.

Oh my god, you wouldn’t believe how involved Anna is! I mean, I read Andre Leon Talley’s book, and he said she checks everything. Seriously, everything! From the napkins and forks at events to the lighting, she’s obsessed with the details. It’s not just the big picture, it’s every tiny thing – the flowers, what the ushers are wearing… she plans it all out for months and months in advance. It’s insane, but that’s what makes everything so perfect, you know?

She likes to keep everything about her outfit a secret, right up until she arrives on the red carpet. According to Plum Sykes, a contributor to Vogue, Anna Wintour doesn’t want anyone to know what she’s planning until the very last moment, as she told The New York Post.

Planning the seating chart for the Met Gala is incredibly challenging – even more so than for a wedding! The team dedicates a lot of time to it, carefully placing guests together who they think will have something in common.

Ward Durrett explained in The First Monday in May that seating arrangements are surprisingly complex. A great deal of consideration goes into who is placed next to whom, taking into account past seating history and relationships from other events. He described it as a significant amount of ‘power-brokering’.

The seating chart for the event changes constantly as planning progresses. Ward Durett shared with Vogue that she quickly learned Velcro was a much better option than sticky notes to keep things organized. She explained that early attempts with simple stickies were chaotic – names kept falling off, getting lost, and needing to be rewritten constantly.

Ward Durrett also suggests using color-coding for seating arrangements, and ideally alternating between women and men. A surprising but important rule is to avoid seating spouses together. The goal of these events is to encourage mingling and learning about others’ work, so attendees shouldn’t just spend time with their partners. Sorry, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds!

Every event has those less-desirable tables – the ones stuck near the kitchen or bathrooms. The Met Gala is the same; designers don’t usually get the same table location each year.

Wintour closely oversaw every detail, even scolding her team for attempting to downplay the H&M table in a scene from The First Monday in May. She insisted, “We shouldn’t hide this table—it’s simply not right.”

While not known for high-end or designer fashion, brands like H&M (which advertises in magazines like Vogue) and more affordable options such as Topshop and Zara are becoming more common at major fashion events. H&M made a splash in 2015 when Sarah Jessica Parker wore a dress specially made for her by the brand.

Big events like these always bring together people with complicated histories – you’re bound to see exes and rivals in the same room. Remember when Selena Gomez, The Weeknd, and Bella Hadid all attended together? Organizers definitely try to avoid awkward situations, like putting Taylor Swift and Katy Perry at the same table when they weren’t getting along. But in the end, the success of the event as a whole is the most important thing, even if there’s a little tension among guests.

It’s impossible to make everyone happy, and we believe all our seats are good. Ultimately, you have to be confident you’ve done your best, even if some people aren’t satisfied,” said Ward Durrett. “Luckily, problems are rare. When they do happen, we make an extra effort to understand those individuals’ needs and manage their expectations better the following year.

I’ll never forget a moment in First Monday in May where Ward Durrett, so matter-of-factly, stuck three Velcro tabs beside Anna Wintour’s seating chart. He basically told her, with no sugarcoating, that those tabs marked the guests he was hoping wouldn’t actually show up! It was a hilariously blunt way to handle the guest list, and it really showed you how seriously everyone took the Met Gala.

Not everyone was pleased with where they were seated, as fashion critic Cathy Horn observed in a 2006 article for The New York Times. She wrote that John Lydon, formerly known as Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, was visibly upset with his seat – the very last one at a long table and considered the least desirable – and even left the event twice, angrily confronting museum staff.

He eventually took his seat.

On The Late Late Show in 2018, James Corden playfully challenged Anna Wintour to reveal which celebrity she’d ban from the Met Gala forever.

She responded, “Donald Trump.” Both Donald and Melania Trump have gone to the Met Gala a few times, but the last time was in 2012.

Former fashion mentor Tim Gunn claims he’s been banned from the Met Gala. He says Anna Wintour blacklisted him after he shared a story with The Post that she didn’t like.

He described the situation as chaotic and wild when speaking on TopMob’s Fashion Police in 2016, explaining that it sparked a continuing conflict.

Dinner will be served at the event, but Stephen Colbert shared that everyone had to wait for Anna Wintour to be seated before they could start eating.

And, like every other aspect, Wintour is heavily involved in the menu planning for each gala. 

According to a source at Vogue, Anna Wintour once prohibited certain foods at events because they could get stuck in guests’ teeth (like parsley), cause bad breath (too much garlic), or—most importantly—stain their clothes. This led to appetizers being specifically designed to be easy to eat.

Anna Wintour generally likes the food at events to match the overall theme, but it doesn’t always happen.

Sean Driscoll, the owner of Glorious Food and caterer for the Met Gala from 1995 to 2018, explained that serving lamb potpies at the 2011 “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty” gala led to numerous requests for alternative meals, as many guests didn’t want to eat them.

People also expect the food to be visually appealing. Director Andrew Rossi, of The First Monday in May, was surprised by how much attention to detail went into it. He recalls attending a tasting with Anna Wintour and observing her researching food presentations on her phone – she was checking how each dish would look.

It’s unclear why Anna Wintour banned selfies and social media at the event back in 2015 – no official reason was ever given. The decision remains a mystery, especially considering how popular and envy-inducing the event already was.

A source at Vogue told Pret-a-Reporter that everyone invited to the gala received a warning: taking photos or videos with phones and posting on social media would not be allowed inside the event.

The magazine didn’t offer a statement about the report, but a source shared with The Hollywood Reporter that the issue was simply about keeping guests safe and ensuring they enjoyed the event.

In the documentary The First Monday in May, Anna Wintour visibly disapproved of phone use at the Met Gala. A scene shows her learning that a male celebrity—whose identity was hidden on request—had changed his mind and decided to attend. She immediately asked Ward Durrett, “Could he please not be on his phone the whole time?”

Ward Durrett told The Post that Anna prefers classic, social gatherings. She enjoys dinner parties where guests actually talk to each other, and while they don’t constantly monitor everyone’s phone use, they might politely remind people to be present if it becomes distracting.

Let’s be real, Anna Wintour has a no-photos rule at the Met Gala, but celebrities will be celebrities! We’ve seen it happen countless times, and Kylie Jenner’s bathroom selfie from 2017 is probably the most talked-about example. It’s a tricky balance – wanting to share the magic with fans, but respecting the event’s exclusivity.

Attendees must be at least 18 years old to enter the event. This rule was confirmed by organizers after Maddie Ziegler shared that she couldn’t attend the 2018 Met Gala because she was only 15. She explained to The Hollywood Reporter, “I can’t go, because I’m not old enough!”

The event is not suitable for anyone under 18, the organizer told The Hollywood Reporter. The new age restriction began this year.

Before 2018, the Met Gala had seen some remarkably young attendees. Jaden and Willow Smith were both there in 2016, at ages 17 and 15, while Elle Fanning first attended at just 13. Hailee Steinfeld made her debut at the event in 2011 when she was 14 years old.

It looks like there’s a way for younger celebrities to attend: if a parent is also going, they can bring their child.

Anna Wintour has the final say on what everyone wears to the Met Gala, but attendees don’t technically need her approval—though she does know what everyone is wearing when they arrive on the red carpet.

As a longtime Met Gala follower, I always found it fascinating how the pairings between designers and celebrities came together. Andre Leon Talley described it perfectly in The First Monday in May – it really felt like assignments! Riccardo Tisci, who dressed Beyoncé and Madonna in 2016, explained it beautifully: each designer gets to choose someone who truly embodies their vision and style. It’s about finding the perfect muse to bring their aesthetic to life.

Generally, a celebrity’s outfit at an event is chosen by the designer who asked them to attend.

The annual gala always has a theme—for example, in 2024 it was “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” and in 2019 it was “Camp: Notes on Fashion.” However, guests and designers have a lot of freedom in how they choose to express that theme—there aren’t any hard and fast rules.

So, how does the Met Gala choose its yearly theme? It’s a year-long process that begins well before the event. Andrew Bolton, the dedicated curator of The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, selects a theme that reflects what’s happening in culture at the moment.

He told Vogue that he focuses on topics that feel current and reflect a changing culture. Their goal is to create a diverse range of exhibits – some looking back at history, others focused on the present, and a mix of shows exploring broad themes alongside those dedicated to individual designers. They aim for variety and keep things interesting.

Once he’s found a few promising options, he submits them to the museum director for approval. Then, Anna Wintour gives her final approval roughly a year in advance.

The curator, a highly respected figure in the British art world, said it would be very challenging to manage without her colleague’s help. Anna is responsible for finding sponsors for the exhibition, and often helps refine the curator’s ideas. Sometimes the curator has concepts that aren’t mainstream or likely to attract funding, and Anna helps navigate those situations.

After walking the red carpet and climbing the famous steps, guests are greeted by Anna Wintour and the event’s hosts – this year including Bad Bunny, Zendaya, Chris Hemsworth, and Jennifer Lopez – in a receiving line. This often takes a while as everyone exchanges greetings and air kisses.

Following the ceremony, guests get a private viewing of the Costume Institute’s exhibition before it opens to the general public. Afterwards, there’s a reception with food, socializing, and entertainment, including music, dancing, and performances by stars like Rihanna and Lady Gaga.

When it comes to the biggest stars at the Met Gala, a major source of planning stress is figuring out the entertainment.

As shown in the documentary The First Monday in May, Ward Durrett struggled to afford Rihanna’s fee for the annual gala.

Rihanna’s performance fee is roughly double what we’ve paid any artist before,” she explained, adding that after speaking with her team, it’s clear they won’t negotiate a lower price.

Eventually, Wintour was called to step in and figure out the situation.

In addition to the security provided by the Museum for the red carpet, celebrities can also bring their personal security teams.

The jewels are really the most important items to protect. In the past, celebrities like Lively have worn over $3.5 million worth of jewelry to the event, and Karlie Kloss once wore $2.5 million worth of Forevermark diamonds.

Because the diamonds are extremely valuable, Forevermark keeps the full security process confidential, but a guard is always present until the pieces are returned safely, a representative told TopMob News. They also use extra security like RFID trackers and video surveillance.

So yes, Ocean’s 8 definitely got that aspect of the Met Gala right.

Because most Met Gala dresses are either made specifically for the event or borrowed from designer collections, celebrities usually don’t get to keep them. Typically, the gowns are returned to the design house after the gala to be preserved in their archives.

In 2018, Balmain’s creative director, Olivier Rousteing, partnered with Bono’s RED organization to auction off one-of-a-kind clothing items worn by celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Alex Rodriguez, and Trevor Noah. All the money raised went to the Global Fund, supporting RED’s mission.

At the 2021 event, guests had to wear masks and show proof of COVID-19 vaccination. This led rapper Nicki Minaj to decide against attending.

Okay, so everyone’s saying she needs to get vaccinated to go to the Met Gala, but honestly? That’s not why I’d get it! I mean, Nicki would only do it when she’s done her own research, and she’s working on that right now, which is amazing! She’s so smart! And she just wants us to be safe, you guys! She said to wear the masks with the two strings, the ones that really grip your head and face, not those flimsy, loose ones. Seriously, listen to Nicki, she always knows best!

Read More

2026-03-04 00:51