Met Gala 2019 Tickets: How to Go to the Fundraiser?

Getty General view of the Press Event for The Costume Institute's spring 2019 exhibition "Camp: Notes on Fashion."

This year’s Met Gala will be held on Monday, May 6; the theme for the 2019 A-list event is “Camp: Notes on Fashion.” Since the fundraiser, also known as the Costume Institute Gala, is fashion’s biggest night, many who are not in that world’s inner circle are left wondering how they, too, can be a part of it.

If the Met Gala looks like an extremely exclusive event, that’s because it is. The invite list was set months ago and the limited tickets have long since been purchased, so it is not possible to attend the Gala this year.

The fundraiser, benefiting Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, transformed into the grand, celebrity-heavy night it’s known as today after Anna Wintour became the Editor in Chief of Vogue Magazine in 1995. In order to attend, guests need to first be invited by Wintour herself. With that coveted invite locked-in, E! reports that guests then must purchase a $30,000 ticket in order to actually go to the Met Gala – that $30,000 is just the starting price, by the way, and a table at the event is $275,000. There are some exceptions who are exempt from that hefty price tag, namely up-and-coming designers who Wintour wants to feature on the red carpet.

According to Page Six, a socialite who has gotten a coveted seat at the event in the past, told them in 2017 “Anna is extremely restrictive on who can buy a ticket. Many people I know who are Friends, [and] who have the money to pay, have been turned down. Anna decides they can’t go. Period.” Even if you’ve purchased a table at the Gala, your guest list for who will be seated at that table must be submitted to and approved by Wintour.

Cameron Silver, a luxury vintage shop owner who has attended the Met Gala before, told Page Six that those who haven’t been able to get tickets take spots on a waitlist in case a seat suddenly becomes available: “I’ve known of society names who couldn’t get a ticket and are prepped to go if there’s a last-minute seat that becomes available. They have their look ready even if they aren’t certain of whether they will actually have a seat days before the event.”

For those who were not lucky enough to secure a ticket to the Gala, you can still get involved by watching the live red carpet coverage, and following Vogue’s updates of all the outfits featured on the carpet before the Gala itself begins inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art.