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How Much Does a Ticket to the Met Gala Cost? Details on the Hefty Price Tag for This Year’s Event
The Met Gala is one of the most exclusive events every year with a highly coveted guest list ranging from reality TV royalty to Manhattan socialites and even the occasional member of the royal family. While you must be invited to attend the soiree, that doesn’t mean you don’t need to purchase a ticket first. Keep reading to find out how much it costs to attend the Met Gala.
How Much Does a Ticket to the Met Gala Cost?
Individual celebrities who are lucky enough to score an invite to the shindig – which takes place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City annually – must fork over a small fortune in order to RSVP.
Seemingly a victim of inflation, 2023 has seen a drastic price hike on the price of admission. According to Page Six, the cost of an individual ticket to this year’s event jumped from $30,000 in 2022, to a whopping $50,000.
“For every person that decides not to go [because of the steep cost], 20 people will line up behind them and beg to come,” a source told the outlet.
Oftentimes fashion brands and companies will purchase full tables at the gala and invite celebrities to walk the red carpet in their designs, though Anna Wintour – the editor-in-chief of Vogue and guest list dictator – still has final say on who companies can invite.
What Is the Met Gala Theme?
Vogue announced in September 2022 that the upcoming event will be in honor of late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.
“Karl Lagerfeld was a regular attendee at The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute, from the Seventh on Sale benefit in 1991 to ‘Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty’ in 2011—and of course for the Chanel exhibition in 2005,” the announcement read. “Karl never tired of telling me that fashion did not belong in a museum. When we worked on the Chanel show together, he was incredibly generous in what he lent, but he was completely disinterested in the exhibition itself! He would say, ‘Fashion is not art—fashion belongs on the street, on women’s bodies, on men’s bodies,’” curator Andrew Bolton added.
The statement continued, “Lagerfeld produced a body of work—for Balmain, Patou, Chloé, Fendi, Chanel, and his own namesake brand—that is unparalleled. Which is why—despite what Lagerfeld himself thought about fashion’s place in a museum—he is to be the subject of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s spring 2023 Costume Institute exhibition.”
The iconic designer died on February 19, 2019, after a secret battle with pancreatic cancer at the age of 85.
Who Is Banned From the Met Gala?
While several stars – including Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Kardashian – have become staples on the Met steps, one famous person will never be invited back to the gala.
While playing a round of “Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts” during a 2017 appearance on the Late Late Show With James Corden, the British host asked Anna, “Who would you never invite back to the Met Gala?”
“Donald Trump,” she said simply, in order to avoid eating pickled pig’s feet. While he has since been permanently banned, the former president previously attended the gala between 2004 and 2012.
