It's the Super Bowl of style. It's the Oscars of fashion. It's the Met Gala, baby.
After being canceled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the fashion spectacular is returned on Sept. 13, turning the second Monday in September into the most fashionable day of the year and one of the most important dates on celebrities' social calendars.
But just how historic is the annual affair? New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art is typically only closed four days out of the year: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day and, usually, the first Monday in May when the gala has been held every other year. (And, yes, it will return on Monday, May 5, 2022.)
Though the first Met Gala was held in 1948, it truly didn't become the luxe event its known for today until Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour took over as the gala's chair in 1995. Ever since, it has become one of the most important (and charitable) red carpets—if not the most important—of the year, with hundreds of people working year-round to stage the event, which brings together the biggest names in fashion, acting, music, sports and politics for an unforgettable night not meant to be shared on social media.
This year's theme was "In America: A Lexicon of Fashion," with superstars Timothée Chalamet, Billie Eilish, Naomi Osaka and Amanda Gorman all serving as co-chairs, along with Wintour, designer Tom Ford and head of Instagram Adam Mosseri.
If you thought that list of names was impressive, just wait until you hear about the meticulous level of planning that goes into the star-studded event, including months spent just on the seating chart alone.
We've compiled all of the juiciest behind-the-scenes morsels of information about the secretive affair we could find, including intel from Wintour and Sylvana Ward Durrett, Vogue's director of special projects who has planned the Met Gala for over a decade.
(Originally published on Wed. May 1, 2019 at 7:45 a.m. PT)