Met Gala Extravaganza Set For September Return In First Of A Two-Part Fall-Spring Event

The Met Gala, New York’s annual extravaganza of celebrities and fashionistas, will return live and in person this year to launch a two-part exhibition on American fashion, one of which will include the involvement of yet-to-be named film directors in the staging of the exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Each part of the exhibition – one opening this fall, the other next spring – will get its own gala: On Sept. 13, a smaller gala, with Covid protocols, will launch “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” opening Sept. 18. That part of the exhibition will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the museum’s Costume Institute and, according to the museum, “explore a modern vocabulary of American fashion.”

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Next spring’s gala, expected to be on the larger scale of galas past, is set for May 2, 2022, launching the second part of the exhibition titled “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” opening May 5. Both parts of the exhibition will close Sept. 5, 2022.

The Gala, a major annual fundraising event for the museum’s Costume Institute, was held virtually last May due to the Covid pandemic. The event regularly draws celebrities (and others who can afford the $30,000-$200,000 ticket prices) from around the world.

“In America: An Anthology of Fashion” will be staged in 21 of the Met’s American period rooms and will focus on historic narratives, some well known (such as the Battle of Versailles) and some not (the story of freeborn child of former slaves who became a dressmaker). Each of the 21 rooms will feature input from film directors to assist in the visualization of the narratives. (The participating directors have not been announced.)

The Met Gala has confirmed that Franklin Leonard, founder of The Black List, will collaborate on the exhibition, along with cinematographer Bradford Young (Selma, When They See Us).

The two-part gala and exhibition was announced today by Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton and Anna Wintour, institute trustee and Condé Nast chief content officer.

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