The first Monday in May is a huge part of the fashion social calendar. Every year, the Met Gala is thrown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to benefit the Costume Institute. The event raises huge amounts of money, but is it just an excuse for capitalist worship of excess?
Yes, the Met Gala is distasteful
The Met Gala is capitalist worship of excess, and frequently has offensive themes.
The Met Gala promotes the importance of money and celebrates capitalism
The Met Gala is a way for the super-wealthy to flaunt their money. The event also emphasizes the importance of wealth with respect to success. This is reproachable in a country with ever-increasing levels of wealth inequality.
The themes of the Met Gala are inappropriate and reinforce stereotypes
In past years the Met Gala has come under fire for having themes that encourage cultural appropriation and sacrilegious costumes. Such themes and ensuing designs often reinforce negative and inaccurate stereotypes about cultures, people, or religions.
The Met Gala is a fun way to raise money for the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Met Gala allows designers to display their best work without limitation
The Met Gala is an opportunity for designers to showcase their often breathtaking work. Given the massive media coverage the event receives, this is widely considered one of the biggest days of fashion each year.
The Met Gala is a charity event for the Costume Institute
The Met Gala is not thrown simply for reasons of vanity - it is a fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute. Each year the event raises millions of dollars to be put towards the curation and maintenance of the Institute.
The Met Gala is enjoyable to watch and promotes global conversation
Each year, millions of people love to examine and critique the costumes celebrities wear to the Met Gala. The annual event garners coverage from most of the Western world's largest media sources and is discussed for weeks and even years following the night.
