And so the Met countdown begins! This week marks the first of three special episodes taking you inside the planning, prepping, and plotting behind the Met Gala. The show today also includes some reminiscing from me and Chioma about our favorite Met Gala hits and misses. I started working at Vogue on the last Tuesday of April 2011, also known as less than a week before the Met Gala, and it was a real trial by fire. Chioma started at Vogue the year before, and we both recall our favorite fashion moments (Chioma’s involved a Barbie cake version of her 2017 Nile Cmylo/Lou Dallas confection, mine involved some ill-advised feathers).
But we really got down to business when we chatted with the impresarios of the Met Gala—event designer Raúl Àvila, Vogue Special Projects and Events Consultant Eaddy Kiernan Bunzel, and Vogue Director of Special Events Jessie Nichols—to go over all the ins and outs of planning the biggest party of the year. Both Raúl and Eaddy have been working the Met Gala for over a decade and all three shared their proudest and most challenging moments from the planning process. We discussed, among other things, the top-secret seating chart; the extensive screening process every single flower undergoes to get into the museum; measuring the width of gallery doorways to accommodate some wide costume choices (Katy Perry, I’m looking at you!); and the two very cheeky peacocks who had their run of the museum. Talk about party fowl!
