The rules and regulations that guests at the MET Gala 2024 must follow

One of the most important nights in the fashion industry looms on the horizon as next Monday, May 6, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City will host another edition of the MET Gala.

This 2024, the Met Gala will celebrate the Costume Institute’s new exhibition, ‘Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,’ which opens on 10 May and this year the official dress code is ‘The Garden of Time’.

The theme is inspired by J.G. Ballard’s 1962 short story that features the beauty and eventual destruction of a garden of flowers. Last year’s dress code was “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty,” which was a tribute to the late German designer.

The MET Gala is also distinguished by being one of the most strict and coveted events with invitations at a premium with tickets for 2023 costing around $35,000 each, according to information from Harpers Bazaar. In addition, once they enter the museum, guests must adhere to a series of strict ‘house rules’.

The regulations that Met Gala must follow

No selfies or smartphones

According to information from The Mirror, one of the strangest rules is the prohibition of the use of cell phones. All invited celebrities are strictly prohibited from taking selfies and browsing social networks with the aim of “being present at the event.” However, this rule has been broken on several occasions, including Kylie Jenner's famous bathroom selfie in 2017.

Entry to minors under 18 years of age is prohibited

No matter how successful they are in the entertainment, fashion or showbiz industry, if you are under 18 years of age you are prohibited from entering the gala. According to a spokesperson of the event, the MET “is not an appropriate event for people under 18 years of age.”

You can not smoke

Likewise, attendees are prohibited from smoking inside the event, although this rule was also ignored in 2017 by several celebrities, including Bella Hadid, Dakota Johnson and Marc Jacobs. Afterwards, board members and donors noted that it was “disrespectful to the art collection” and reminded guests that it was “illegal to smoke in the museum,” so In the following year’s invitations they reiterated this prohibition.

Special menu

Once the red carpet is over and the attendees enter the museum, it’s time for dinner. However, celebrities are not free to order whatever they want, as they have to adapt to a special menu in which certain foods are left out at the request of Wintour herself, as reported by the New York Post.

Seating arrangement

The table layout is meticulously organized by Anna Wintour. According to the same editor of Vogue, the seating arrangement starts in December, because she likes to make sure that celebrities can meet new people, so that couples generally sit apart from each other.

“The goal of these things is to meet new people and be interested in what others are doing”, explained the project director Vogue specials, Sylvana Ward Durrett.