(Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images For Entertainment Weekly)
The official and hoity-toity name of the event is the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute benefit, which is a black-tie event held on the first Monday of every May to raise money for the Costume Institute (another fancy way of saying fashion department). The Costume Institute is the only on of the Met’s curatorial departments that funds itself.
Off the record, however, the shindig has been referred to as “the party of the year,” “the Oscars of the East Coast,” and, more straightforwardly, “an A.T.M. for the Met.” Credit to publicist Paul Wilmot for that last zinger.
The party acts as the official opening of the Costume Institute’s annual blockbuster show and the 2017 exhibition is “Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garcons: Art of the In-Between.”
The Met Gala is famous for its, well, famous-ness. A-list celebrities are a plenty at this bad boy and this year features the likes of Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen, Katy Perry and Pharrell Williams.
You know what? Don’t take our word for it. Take a look at all the sparkling celebs in the gallery above. One glance and it’s easy to see why the Met Gala is truly considered the party of the year.
