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Topics: Met Gala
Phoebe Tonks
As the biggest names in fashion gathered at the 2026 Met Gala in New York, the event was very nearly thrown into chaos when a protestor broke through the security barrier at the entrance to the event just as Heidi Klum was ascending the iconic steps.
The momentary lapse in otherwise tight security was swiftly countered as the protestor was tackled to the ground and detained, but not before briefly rattling the star-studded attendees.
Thankfully the disruption was minimal and the culprit didn’t make it as far as the carpet itself, but the infiltration will no doubt have placed the event on an even higher alert than initially expected.
In the run up to this year’s event, protests were already reportedly expected given the gala’s lead sponsorship by Jeff Bezos.
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As soon as he and his wife Lauren Sanchez were announced to be funding the event back in February, the backlash was almost instant, with a passionate anti-Bezos campaign having spanned many city streets, subways and online spaces in the weeks leading up to the event.
In fact, just hours before the event got underway, a video was projected onto his New York penthouse depicting a disgruntled Amazon worker who was campaigning for more just treatment of employees at the retail giant.
Bezos’ involvement almost threatened to overshadow the meaning of the event itself, which is designed to raise money for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute - with some critics branding it the ‘Amazon Prime Gala’ or ‘Bezos Ball.’
As you’d expect, a ticket to the most exclusive fashion event in the calendar doesn’t come cheap.
If you’re lucky enough to be approved for the guest list by former Vogue editor Anna Wintour, individual tickets are priced around $75,000 - up by 50 percent from 2023.
But the silver lining for A-listers is that the tens of thousands required to attend the high-profile shindig won’t be coming out of their own pockets.
Instead, fashion designers and brands will buy a table - which goes for $350,000 - and invite celebs to sit at it wearing their finest threads.
The Met Gala is actually a charity fundraiser for the Costume Institute at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, so the millions raised from ticket sales go towards the museum’s fashion department putting on exhibitions, making acquisitions, and its general running costs.