It's Met Gala time again — here's what we know so far

NEW YORK (AP) — Last year, it took 275,000 bright pink roses to adorn the Metropolitan Museum of Art for

the Met Gala,

the

biggest night in fashion

and one of the biggest concentrations of star power anywhere.

It remains to be seen how the

museum’s Great Hall will be decorated

on Monday, but one thing is not in question: those entering it will look spectacular. The theme centers on the late designer Karl Lagerfeld, who made an indelible mark on luxury fashion in his long career at Chanel, Fendi and elsewhere. It is a

theme not without controversy

— Lagerfeld was known for contentious remarks about everything from #MeToo to curvy bodies.

Want to know what to expect

now that the big day is here?

Not to worry. We’ve dusted off our annual guide for you here, with some key updates.

WHAT IS THE MET GALA ANYWAY?

It started in 1948 as a society midnight supper, and wasn’t even at the Met.

Fast forward 70-plus years, and the Met Gala is something totally different, one of the most photographed events in the world for its head-spinning red carpet — though the carpet isn't always red.

We’re talking

Rihanna

as a bejeweled pope.

Zendaya

as Cinderella with a light-up gown.

Katy Perry

as a chandelier morphing into a hamburger. Also:

Beyoncé

in

her “naked dress.”

Billy Porter

as an

Egyptian sun god,

carried on a litter

by six shirtless men.

Lady Gaga’s

16-minute striptease. And, last year, host

Blake Lively's

Versace dress — a tribute to iconic New York architecture — that changed colors in front of our eyes.

Then

there’s Kim Kardashian

, bringing commitment to a whole other level. One year, she wore a dress so tight, she admitted she had to take breathing lessons beforehand. Two years ago, she wore a dark bodysuit that covered even her face. And last year she truly stole the carpet,

showing up in Marilyn Monroe’s

actual, rhinestone-studded “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” dress (borrowed from Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museum), changing the minute she got inside to protect it. There was controversy later over suspicions,

denied by Ripley’s,

that she'd caused some damage. But still — that was an entrance. (And, folks, she's coming back — she posted a photo from Paris with Lagerfeld's famous cat, Choupette, noting she was in the French capital scoping out possibilities for this year's attire.)

It's important to note that the party has a purpose — last year, the evening

earned $17.4 million

for the Met’s Costume Institute, a self-funding department. Yes, that's a heckuva lot for a gala. It also launches

the annual spring exhibit

that brings hundreds of thousands of visitors to the museum.

But it’s the carpet itself that draws the world’s eyes, with the guest list — strategically withheld until the last minute — featuring a collection of notables from movies, music, fashion, sports, politics and social media that arguably makes for the highest celebrity wattage-per-square-foot of any party in the world.

WHO’S HOSTING THIS YEAR?

This year’s five hosts

are drawn from television (Emmy-winning writer, actor and producer

Michaela Coel

); the movies (Oscar-winning actor

Penélope Cruz,

who has worked with Chanel for more than 20 years); sports (

recently retired

tennis superstar

Roger Federer

); and music (Grammy-winning songstress

Dua Lipa

). Finally there is Vogue’s

Anna Wintour

(do we need to tell you she's in fashion?) running the whole thing as usual.

IS THERE ALWAYS A THEME?

Yes. As mentioned above, the theme is

Karl Lagerfeld,

and

the exhibit, “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty,”

looks at “the designer’s stylistic vocabulary as expressed in aesthetic themes that appear time and again in his fashions from the 1950s to his final collection in 2019.” Once again, it has been created by the

Met’s star curator, Andrew Bolton.

DOES EVERYONE FOLLOW THE THEME?

Not really. Some eschew it and just go for

big and crazy.

But expect some guests to carefully research the theme and come in perfect sync. It was hard to beat the carpet, for example, when the

theme was “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination”

and Rihanna came as the pope, Zendaya channeled Joan of Arc, and Perry navigated the crowd with a set of enormous angel wings. For Lagerfeld, the clothes may be a bit more, er, down to earth.

HOW MUCH DO I HAVE TO PAY FOR A MET GALA TICKET?

Wrong question. You cannot just buy a ticket. The right question is: If I were famous or powerful and got invited, how much would it cost?

OK, IF I WERE FAMOUS OR POWERFUL AND GOT INVITED, HOW MUCH WOULD IT COST?

Well, you might not pay yourself. Generally companies buy tables. A fashion label would then host its desired celebrities. This year, the cost has gone up, as it does every few years due to rising expenses: It's now $50,000 for an individual ticket, and tables start at $300,000.

SO WHO GETS INVITED?

This year, there will be roughly 400 guests — similar to recent years but still lower than

pre-pandemic highs

of 500-600. Wintour and her team still get to approve every guest.

Trying to predict? Take out your pen and jot down some of your favorite names, the buzzier the better. Newly minted Oscar winners, for example, are a good bet.

Broadway

is a special favorite of Wintour’s. She also loves tennis — this is not

fashionable Federer’s

first Met Gala. Now, cross everyone off your list except the very top. At this gala, everybody’s A-list.

THAT MUST BE AN EXAGGERATION.

Not really. Ask

Tina Fey.

She went in 2010 and later described walking around

trying to find somebody “normal”

to sit and talk with. That ended up being

Barbara Walters.

HOW CAN I WATCH?

You can watch the whole carpet unfold on

a Vogue livestream.

If you’re in New York, you can also join fans across the street, behind barricades, on Fifth Avenue or even further east on Madison.

Timothée Chalamet

has been known to greet fans. And the AP will

have a livestream of departures from the Mark Hotel,

where many gala guests get ready.

DO WE KNOW WHO’S COMING? AND WHO ISN’T?

It's secret. But reports slip out. You can count on various celebrity

Chanel ambassadors

showing up. Lively left some fashion fans disappointed when she revealed she's not attending this year.

WHAT HAPPENS INSIDE?

Entering the museum,

guests walk past

what is usually an impossibly enormous flower arrangement in the lobby, with perhaps an orchestra playing nearby, and over to cocktails. Or, they head to view the exhibit.

Cocktails are 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.,

but the most famous — or those who plan to make the biggest entrance — sometimes come (fashionably) later.

Around 8 p.m., guests are summoned to dinner — perhaps by a team of buglers (“Are they going to do that between every course?” actor Gary Oldman asked aloud one year).

IS IT FUN FOR EVERYONE?

Occasionally, someone says no. Fey, in a comic rant to David Letterman in 2015, described the gala as a “jerk parade” and said it included everyone you’d ever want to punch, if you had millions of arms.

Amy Schumer

left early in 2016 and said later she felt awkward and like it was “a punishment.”

SO THEY NEVER CAME BACK, RIGHT?

Wrong. Schumer was back in 2017. And then last year again.

Hey, this is the Met Gala.

___

For more coverage of the 2023 Met Gala, visit

https://apnews.com/hub/met-gala