Cameron Frew
Details for this year's Met Gala have officially been announced - and there's five rules attending celebs must follow.
The fundraising benefit for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is often dubbed as ‘fashion’s big night out’, welcoming high-profile stars from the world of entertainment and design. While fashion events were scaled back due to the pandemic, it returned last year and it's set to be far bigger this time.
The 2022 Met Gala's theme is 'In America: An Anthology of Fashion', hoped to celebrate the 'anonymous and unsung heroes of US design'.
While often attracting a large amount of celebs - Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively are among this year's hosts - the prestigious event isn't open to everyone: every guest is chosen and approved by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.
If you're lucky enough to snag an invite, you'll be among the world's elites, so there's a few guidelines you'd be expected to follow.
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First of all, while thousands of photographs are taken at the Met Gala as attendees arrive in fantastic, striking outfits, don't even think about taking your own photos, because no selfies are permitted.
The advent of social media and smartphones has been a curse for our attention spans; how many movies do you watch while casually scrolling through Twitter, TikTok and whatever else?
It's for this very reason that Wintour issued a ban back in 2015. "The use of phones for photography and social media will not be permitted inside the gala," an earlier notice read, as per The Independent.
Secondly, under-18s aren't allowed to attend. This was first enforced back in 2018, with that year's theme being 'Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination'.
A Met Gala spokesperson later confirmed the age restriction was introduced as 'it's not an appropriate event for people under 18'.
Thirdly, no smoking is allowed at the event. This came after the likes of Bella Hadid, Dakota Johnson and Marc Jacobs were pictured smoking in the bathrooms at the 2017 event, with guests the following year reminded that it's 'illegal to smoke in the museum'.
It should be noted that smoking indoors in New York City has been banned since 2003, and prior invitations to the event have reiterated this.
Fourthly, there are certain food items banned from the event, according to the New York Post, such as parsley so to avoid it getting stuck in anyone's teeth before photos, onion and garlic to prevent bad breath, and other dishes which could easily spill onto dresses and whatnot.
And finally, if you get to the event and aren't a fan of who you've been sat next to: tough, because seating arrangements are strictly maintained, with a lot of 'power-brokering' in the planning beforehand.
"A lot of thought goes into who sits next to who, if they sat together last year, if they've sat next to each other at other events, so much goes into it, it's shocking," Sylvana Ward Durrett, director of special projects at Vogue, said in the 2016 documentary The First Monday in May.
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