Our social media feeds are full of all the Met Gala looks right now, but little is ever publicised about what really happens behind closed doors at fashion’s most exclusive event.
Well, not until now.
The gala, which raises money for the Met museum, is so secretive that Anna Wintour even established a ‘no selfie’ rule in 2015 (however, many celebrities have since broken it!).
We will occasionally get treated to a bathroom selfie of a lineup of Oscar winners, models, and even a Kardashian or two.
But still, little is known or seen beyond a sneaky Instagram snap, but, for whatever reason, we’ve just had photos of inside the museum drop as the celebrities waltz around all the art and we’re not sure what we done to deserve it but we’ll take it!
What happens inside the Met Gala?
As all good events should, the Met Gala starts with cocktail hour.
Once attendees are done with the stress of the carpet, they step right into cocktail hour where they’re treated to drinks and a tour of the actual exhibition, which opens to the public later in the month.
They can all mingle with a cocktail in hand before they make their way over to the dinner tables for a feast.
Dinner
After drinks, guests are treated to a a very on-theme and impressive dinner, while speeches are held by co-chairs, hosts and special guests.
The menu for the 2024 Met Gala featured a spring vegetable salad, followed by a beef fillet topped with a tortellini rose and a not-so-poison-apple for dessert – a nod to the theme, ‘Sleeping Beauties: Fashion Reawakened.’
Then, last year’s menu featured soul food, like hoecakes with crispy chicken, mini chopped cheeses and cornbread topped with caviar all served on shiny silver platters to go with the theme of ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’.
It’s not just the menu that’s carefully thought out, but the seating arrangement too.
Eaddy Kiernan is the woman in charge of masterminding the seating chart, which she says takes months to properly plan and execute.
“We start with a seating document when the names come together in December,” Kiernan told Vogue. “The actual seating chart doesn’t come together until about a month before the event, when we get a sense for the layout of the room, and the flow of the evening.”
“We really try to think very carefully about who’s sitting next to each other,” Kiernan says. “Our ideal pairing would maybe be two people who we think will just get on like a house on fire, but who may not even realise that they have a lot in common.
“So with each person, we really do take time to think, ‘What will they talk about?’”
Entertainment
It’s not a dinner party without a bit of entertainment.
The guests are also treated to a performance from high-profile musicians over dinner, which again, is not allowed to be recorded.
The 2025 Met Gala was all about highlighting Black creatives, so it was fitting that Usher and Stevie Wonder delivered an impressive performance for last year’s guest list.
Usher performed hits ‘Yeah!‘ and ‘OMG’ while Stevie stepped in with ‘Superstitious‘.
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo have also performed a duet during the Meta Gala.
At the height of their Wicked fame in 2024, they took to the stage with a dreamy performance of ‘When You Believe’ to fit with the ‘Sleeping Beauties: Fashion Reawakened’ theme.
Bathroom meet-ups
Like mentioned earlier, it’s not unusual for celebrities to take the odd sneaky bathroom selfie at the Met Gala, considering it’s perhaps the only safe place during the night to whip out their phones because of the ‘no selfie’ policy.
Over the years, there’s been some pretty iconic photos and stories coming from the Met Gala bathroom, such as Kylie Jenner’s infamous selfie that had everyone from Kendall Jenner and A$AP Rocky, to Kim Kardashian, Lily Aldridge, Frank Ocean, Paris Jackson, Brie Larson, and even (unfortunately) P. Diddy.
There’s also been photos that have gone viral online of Dakota Johnson lighting up a cigarette, and Bella Hadid, Paris Jackson and Ruby Rose sitting on the bathroom floor as they chatted.
