I’m fairly certain—what, after all of the snubs and institutional biases—that it’s no longer controversial to say that the best part of most award shows is the red carpet show that precedes them, purely because of the outfits. This is why the Met Gala has always been the best celebrity-centric event, as far as I’m concerned—the outfits are the main event. And I’m in dire need of seeing some elaborate outfits right now.
If you agree even a little, I have good news: The Met Gala is happening this year, after being canceled in 2020 for the reason we all know.
The gala will reportedly take place on September 13 rather than on the first Monday in May, which is tradition for the event. According to the Page Six, the gala got pushed back a few months to ensure that it can otherwise proceed as normal, with most people having been vaccinated and life resembling something close to its pre-pandemic form. The gala would have taken place on the first Monday of September, except that Monday is Labor Day. And “even Anna Wintour can’t change a federal holiday,” an “insider” told the outlet.
The last thing we know about this year’s gala is that the poet Amanda Gorman, who read at the Inauguration as well as the Super Bowl earlier this year, may act as the evening’s host, alongside Tom Ford.
No word on a theme yet. Last year’s was “About Time: Fashion and Duration,” and though we never got to see celebrity’s red carpet looks, the accompanying costume exhibition went up in the fall after the Met reopened. In any case, there is no reason why, a year and a half into a pandemic, anyone would need or particularly want to interrogate the principles of “time” or “duration.” New theme, please!