Who Really Sets the Met Gala’s Tone? The Cochairs Behind Fashion’s Biggest Night
Since 1948, the Met Gala has morphed from a fundraiser for a fledgling Costume Institute into fashion’s biggest night—where a coveted cochair seat signals peak power—propelled by decades of Vogue muscle.
The Met Gala is the rare red carpet that eats all the other red carpets. It has basically been fashion's biggest night going back to the late 1940s, and the guest list is only half the story — the power behind it is the real plot.
Where this whole circus started
The gala launched in 1948 as a straight-up fundraiser for the then-new Costume Institute. With Vogue backing it for decades as a longtime partner, the event leveled up from a society dinner into the most obsessively discussed night in fashion. Starting in the early 1970s, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute became home base — not just for the gala itself, but for the blockbuster exhibit it unveils each year.
Before the early-70s move into the Met, the party bounced around New York: think the Waldorf-Astoria, Central Park, and the Rainbow Room. Cute venues, sure, but the museum gave it the aura (and the staircase) that turned this thing mythic.
So, who gets to be in charge?
Being named a Met Gala cochair is a status upgrade, no question. That whole tradition kicked off in 1973, when organizers started tapping celebrities and socialites to help front the night. Since then it has gone to everyone from Hollywood A-listers to former First Ladies, with a few strategically buzzy choices along the way.
And then there is Anna Wintour. Vogue's editor-in-chief has been a cochair every single year since 1997. That run is the throughline — if the Met Gala has a constant, it's her.
- 1948: The gala debuts to raise money for the newly founded Costume Institute.
- Early 1970s: The Costume Institute at the Met becomes the permanent home for both the gala and its annual exhibit.
- Pre-1970s stops: Waldorf-Astoria, Central Park, and the Rainbow Room host earlier editions.
- 1973: Celebrity and socialite cochairs become part of the format.
- 1976: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis serves as a cochair.
- 1997–present: Anna Wintour cochairs every year.
- 2021: After a one-year pandemic pause, Timothee Chalamet is among the cochairs.
- 2022: Blake Lively takes a turn as cochair.
If it feels like the Met Gala has institutional weight and Hollywood shine at the same time, that's because it does. It's a fundraiser, an exhibit launch, a networking summit, and a spectacle — all baked into one night that fashion (and frankly, film and TV) treats like canon.