{"id":5424,"date":"2026-05-05T21:06:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T21:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/?p=5424"},"modified":"2026-05-05T21:06:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T21:06:57","slug":"has-fashions-most-tone-deaf-event-of-the-year-gone-out-of-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/?p=5424","title":{"rendered":"Has fashion&#8217;s most tone deaf event of the year gone out of style?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div><!--$--><\/p>\n<p><h2>OPINION: Culture or commerce?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose drop-cap \">\n<p>The Met Gala has quietly become fashion\u2019s Super Bowl, a night where culture, celebrity and chaos collide under one very expensive roof.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>\u2018Met Monday\u2019 dominates timelines, headlines and group chats, and I will admit I got pulled into it too, to the point my 21st birthday was Met Gala themed. While I did have a dress code, I drew the line at charging \u00a3100,000 per head.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Beneath the fabric, it is worth asking whether the Met Gala is still about fashion at all, or simply power dressed up as culture.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$?--><template id=\"B:0\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<p><h3>From charity supper to celebrity circus<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>The annual event began in 1948 as a midnight supper to raise funds for the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute, however, Vogue\u2019s Editor in Chief, Anna Wintour, transformed it into the extravagant event it is today.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>The guest list, once centred on cultural influence such as artists, musicians, actors, and designers has increasingly shifted towards figures whose presence guarantees headlines rather than ties to fashion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/greencastlemediagroup.bbvms.com\/p\/joe_ie\/c\/7264296.html\" class=\"absolute top-0 left-0 w-full h-full border-0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" title=\"Video Player\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>While intended to reinforce exclusivity, the red carpet suggests something else entirely. Expense over distinction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$?--><template id=\"B:1\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<p><h3><strong>Power dressing<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>As you may have guessed, tickets for the Gala come at a price vastly out of reach for the majority of society. This year saw the tickets at their highest price ever at $100,000 each.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Most of our beloved celebrities aren\u2019t reaching into their deep pockets as many are brought by fashion houses, handpicked to wear and promote the designers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>This results in not just a gathering of celebrity elite, but a controlled ecosystem of wealth reinforcing the gala as a closed-off world designed for corporate promotion rather than charity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$?--><template id=\"B:2\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>This year\u2019s event only sharpened such tensions, largely due to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren S\u00e1nchez making their debut as honourary co-chairs, a role typically reserved for cultural figures.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Reports also noted the growing presence of tech giants at the events with Open AI, Meta, Snapchat and more securing tables, and visibility, at the Met Gala.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>The criticism isn\u2019t just about wealth, but who gets to be celebrated. In this case, a man whose company holds major government contracts including infrastructure used by agencies like ICE.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<p><h3>Met with backlash<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>The 2026 Met Gala has been subject to protests and online backlash, including comparisons to The Hunger Games and alleged promotion of \u2018eat the rich\u2019 mentality, both of which have been circulating around the event online over the past few years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$?--><template id=\"B:3\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Yesterday, in real time outside the venue, projections and demonstrations were cast on skyscrapers around New York. including \u2018If you can buy the Met Gala, you can pay more tax\u2019 on Bezos\u2019s penthouse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Inside, activists staged symbolic protests referencing labour concerns linked to companies like Amazon with \u2018pee bottles\u2019 placed around the museum, alluding to claims about warehouse workers lacking adequate break time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>Additionally, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani became the first mayor since 2002 not to attend the Met Gala, and instead used \u2018Met Monday\u2019 to shine the spotlight on six local garment workers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cThe fashion industry is made possible by the thousands of workers behind the scenes &#8211; seamstresses, tailors, retail workers, delivery drivers &#8211; whose immense talent and dedication deserves to be celebrated.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$?--><template id=\"B:4\"\/><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>While the Met Gala still calls itself a celebration of fashion, art and philanthropy; what it increasingly reflects is something else entirely.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><!--$--><\/p>\n<div class=\"custom-prose  \">\n<p>At this point, the most exclusive thing about it might be believing it still is.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--\/$--><\/div>\n<p>#fashions #tone #deaf #event #year #style<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>OPINION: Culture or commerce? The Met Gala has quietly become fashion\u2019s Super Bowl, a night where culture, celebrity and chaos collide under one very expensive roof. \u2018Met Monday\u2019 dominates timelines, headlines and group chats, and I will admit I got pulled into it too, to the point my 21st birthday was Met Gala themed. While [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5588,95,5586,5587,5563,5401,5589,1235,773],"class_list":{"0":"post-5424","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"tag-deaf","9":"tag-event","10":"tag-fashion","11":"tag-fashions","12":"tag-met-gala","13":"tag-opinion","14":"tag-style","15":"tag-tone","16":"tag-year"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldpumpnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}