It's the biggest night of the fashion calendar. The Oscars of the sartorial world, if you will. And yet as we predict who will push the dress code to its limits this year – 2019's theme is Camp: Notes on Fashion – we're surely not the only ones wondering… what actually is the Met Gala?
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The event in fact dates all the way back to 1948, when legendary fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert launched a fundraiser to encourage donations to the newly-established Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It's since grown into the glamorous affair it's known as today – held every year on the first Monday in May - with American Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour serving as chair. Each year she chooses a number of A-list co-chairs, too, which for 2019 are Lady Gaga, Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele, Harry Styles and Serena Williams.
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As for the theme? It's always based on the Costume Institute's annual fashion exhibition. In a recent Q&A video for Vogue, Anna explained. "The theme of every exhibition is decided by Andrew Bolton, who is the chief curator of the Costume Institute," she said. "He sometimes can make that decision up to five years ahead, and the only advice that I really ever give to Andrew is whatever the title of the exhibition is, make sure everybody understands it immediately… although to be honest, this theme's exhibition has created a little bit of confusion."
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2019's spectacle is inspired by Susan Sontag's 1964 essay Notes on 'Camp', and guests at this year's party are invited to explore what 'camp' fashion means to them. "I think this year's exhibition more possibly than any other, is about self-expression and individuality," added Anna. "I think we're all most hoping to see I something that is outrageous, that is fun, tongue in cheek, so my guess is that we're going to see a very large amount of feathers on the red carpet."
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We don't doubt it. Anna even recently confirmed that drag icon RuPaul is confirmed to be attending, and he's taking his outfit very seriously. "RuPaul… I can't wait," she said. "I think nobody understands how to make an entrance better than he does. And I hear he's taking it super seriously, so we look forward to being delightfully enthralled." Really, that's all we needed to know…