The most photographed guest list in the world, assembled by invitation and by nobody else
The Met Gala: What It Actually Is, and What Is Open to You
About the Met Gala
The Met Gala is the annual fundraising benefit for the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, held on the first Monday in May. It opens the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition.
What Is Actually Open
Not the gala. The guest list is curated by the organisers and tables are extended to brands and individuals of their choosing; it is not a ticketed event in any sense.
What is open is the exhibition it launches, which runs for months afterwards and is the actual substance behind the evening — and New York in early May, which is at its best.
Where to Start
- Separate the gala from the exhibition — one is closed, the other is the reason the first exists
- Plan the exhibition properly — a private view outside public hours is a far better experience than the queue
- Use the week — early May is one of the best fortnights of the New York year
- Expect a straight answer — anyone offering the gala itself is offering something else
Arrange It With Perfect.Live
Tell us when you are in New York and we will arrange the exhibition properly
The Exhibition Behind the Evening
The Costume Institute’s spring exhibition opens the day after the gala and runs for months. It is the substance the evening exists to fund, and it is genuinely worth the visit.
Seen outside public hours it is a different experience entirely — the rooms as they were designed to be walked through, rather than at the pace of a queue.
How We Help
- The Costume Institute exhibition seen properly rather than in a crowd
- New York arranged around it
- A straight answer about the gala itself
For the rest of the trip, see our guides to Michelin-star restaurants in New York and luxury shopping in New York.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. The guest list is curated by the organisers and the evening is not ticketed.
On the first Monday in May each year, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
It is the annual fundraising benefit for the museum’s Costume Institute, and it opens that year’s spring exhibition.
Yes. It runs for months after the gala and is open to the public.
Outside public hours, in many cases yes. It is a considerably better way to see the rooms than the daytime queue.
Early May is one of the best fortnights of the year in the city, which is part of why the date was chosen.
No, and we say so. What we arrange is the exhibition and the week around it.
