Met Gala: here are the 5 most unlikely rules

“ Sleeping beauties: the awakening of fashion “, is the name of the exhibition-event at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

This will also be the base Inspiration of the theme for the dress code “ The garden of time » for celebrities at the Met Gala on May 6, 2024.

Anna Wintour (editor-in-chief of Rowing in the United States), with Bad Bunny, Chris Hemsworth, Jennifer Lopez and Zendaya, will preside over this prestigious evening. To ensure that it takes place under the best conditions according to the organization, some guidelines apply. From the best known to the most surprising, here are 5 that are best respected in the hope of being invited back.

Selfies are banned at the Met Gala

If this evening fascinates so much it is certainly not for the love of fashion shows, unfortunately. But rather because it concentrates the elite of the entertainment industry, including music and cinema. So much so that being invited seems to be a guarantee of popularity and influence. But to promote quality conversation and letting loose, as well as avoid catching a potential scandal (reminiscent of Beyoncé’s sister Solange running over her brother-in-law Jay-Z in an elevator at the Met Gala in 2014), selfies are prohibited .

This also avoids us from spending too much time on the red carpet to immortalize ourselves there, instead of playing with photographers whose photos will surely be of better quality.

That’s why rare photos and videos taken by the stars themselves are often taken in bathrooms, the only place that escapes the vigilance of Anna Wintour-trained security.

Smoking is prohibited at the Met Gala

We often forget this, but the Met Gala is nothing more than the opening night of an exhibition in a museum : the Costume Institute (recently renamed the Anna Wintour Costume Center, by the way) inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art. But, no matter how famous, you obviously can’t smoke in a museum.

But sometimes this obvious rule is broken by some stars. Obviously they can’t resist the temptation to immortalize themselves by breaking it with a selfie, posted on Instagram or Snapchat. Hence the numerous photos and videos of famous people smoking in the museum bathrooms, to pass themselves off as rebels (even if this mostly damages the works, as well as offering passive smoking to everyone…).

No minors at the Met Gala

Another lesser-known and yet obvious rule if you think about it for a second: minors cannot be invited, as of 2018. Even older child stars are not allowed access.

At the Met Gala no onions, garlic and parsley

To protect guests’ breath, onions and garlic would be banned from the Met Gala dinner, according to a former employee Rowing to whom he confided New York Post in 2016. Parsley has also been banned, for fear of it getting stuck in guests’ teeth.

Couples part ways at Met Gala table

Again to encourage conversation, the seating arrangement is meticulously thought out by Anna Wintour and her teams, as we could see in the documentary The first Monday in May published in 2016 on the Met Gala. Even more surprising is that couples are separated voluntarily, to prevent one from becoming too attached to their other half without talking to the others.