As Anna Wintour would know, hosting a big badass party in the middle of the year is tiresome work. That’s why rules are important to have in place. Personally I like to say ‘keep your feet off the lounge’ at my HUGE parties, but I feel like Anna has even bigger fish to fry.
The 2024 Met Gala has kicked off gorgeously, with celebs showing off their insanely theme-accurate looks (what a blessing, for a change) and also some spicy BTS pics and vids of them getting ready for the huge event.
However, once those stairs have been ascended and the celebrities are away from the public eye, what rules must they follow inside the actual Metropolitan Museum of Art? Here are all the Met Gala rules Anna Wintour, the art gallery and the city of New York itself has put in place, which keep the event running smoothly year after year.
No smoking
It is no mystery at this point that the Met Gala is strictly no smoking indoors. This rule stretches across all of New York City and has been in place since 2003, so don’t go thinking it’s a direct order from Miss Wintour.
Despite this rule, celebs find a way to sneak a quick little ciggie in the bathrooms, making for some rather controversial pictures. A swathe of pictures that emerged in 2017 after the Met Gala, which depicted a heap of celebs lighting up indoors, was met with ire from the Department of Health Commissioner.
In an open letter to the Met Gala, she wrote:
“This spectacular event awes us all. We were dismayed to read reports that some celebrities chose smoking as their fashion accessory and flagrantly violated New York City’s smoking laws.
“You admire and emulate the designers, models, actors, and other celebrities who attend the Met Gala. We thus are concerned about how images of these celebrities smoking — which were widely shared around the world via social media — will affect youth smoking rates.”
This displeased the museum bosses and Anna Wintour, who pledged ever since to crack down HARD on anyone who dare light up a cigarette indoors.
No children
This rule is one of the more obvious ones, as we have never seen a child enter the Met Gala before.
Sure, North West technically came with Kim Kardashian in 2023 but she could only go so far before her mother had to leave her behind.
Officially enforced in 2018, I simply have to wonder why any celebrity would even want their child to attend such an event. Leave those children at HOME! You can afford a whole squadron of babysitters.
No selfies or pictures
Believe it or not, Anna Wintour has placed a strict ban on taking pictures or selfies from within the museum since 2015. Official photos ONLY.
‘But I always see selfies from the Met Gala events! The bathroom is basically iconic at this stage’ I hear you say, and you’d be correct. Unfortunately, this rule is one of the harder ones to enforce, however, if a selfie ends up online it is more than obvious who took it.
You do not want that picture of you ending up on Anna Wintour’s desk in the morning.
Stick to the seating plan and talk to your neighbour
Ahhh, the Met Gala seating plan. An oft-rumoured land of secret deals and meticulous planning. It’s basically a game of Monopoly big fashion brands play to see who can buy out the most seats.
Celebrities are often seated next to people they do not know, which means if you came in with your partner, you won’t be seeing them for some time.
Director of Special Projects at Vogue, Sylvana Ward Durrett, confirmed as much in the 2016 documentary The First Monday In May.
“The whole point of these things is to meet new people, and to be interested in what others are doing,” she said.
“What’s the point if you come here to hang out with your husband?”
She also revealed that celebs who are on their phones the whole time will be politely reminded to put it away.
“Anna is an old-school traditionalist,” she said.
“She likes a dinner party where people are actually speaking to each other.
“We aren’t sitting over people’s shoulders, but if it’s an obvious thing, we might gently remind them.”
No parsley, no garlic, no onions
Anna Wintour doesn’t like bad breath, or food that can get stuck in your teeth easily. And so, she goes to meticulous lengths to ensure none of the celebrities have an embarrassing moment while conversing with others in their iconic dresses/suits.
It was also revealed in the 2016 documentary that Anna goes to great lengths to ensure all of the appetisers are easily edible and mess-free. I see that she too hates those god-awful mini-burgers that are loaded with sauce and require two toothpicks and ten serviettes just to eat politely.
But enough about the Met Gala rules, if you want to see all of the stunning looks on the Met Gala 2024 red carpet, head right this way.
