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The Met Gala is so Much More Costly Than You Think — Here’s Every Expense Spent on The Event

The annual Met Gala is probably the most anticipated high-profile event in the world of the rich and famous…or at least in the American East Coast. Dubbed as the ‘Oscars of the East’, the event has become quite the fashion spectacle over the years.

This year’s theme, Camp: Notes on Fashion, surely helped bolster this reputation further with celebrities and socialites getting the opportunity to go crazy with their outfits and entrances. All this glitz and glamor comes at a price though, a steep one at that.

Here’s exactly how much dough it takes to pull off the extravagant fundraising event.

Expensive Invite

Wintour is also the editor-in-chief of Vogue and serves as the creative director of the Conde Nast media group

In case you didn’t know, the Met Gala is both a fundraiser and exhibition meant to celebrate the Metropolitan Museum of Art‘s Costume Insitute. Anna Wintour, fashion icon and Vogue editor, has been serving as the brains behind the event for decades now. One of the things she works hard on, aside from deciding on the theme, of course, is the gala’s highly-exclusive guest list.

This is also where the lucky invitees’ expenses begin. According to sources, tickets for the event begin at $30,000 per person with every invite undergoing Wintour’s approval first. To contextualized just how much money $30,000 is, that amount is enough to pay for a college student’s tuition fee for a school year. But get this, some sources say that tickets can still go up to almost $50,000 a piece.

Meanwhile, tables usually go for $275,000 to a whopping $500,000. These tables are typically paid for by huge corporate sponsors to seat celebrities. Last 2015, Yahoo! reportedly spent a jaw-dropping $3 million just to sponsor two tables at the prestigious event.

Dressing the Stars

Some of the best looks of the night came from triple threat entertainer Billy Porter (left) and actress Lupita Nyong’o (right)

Of course, celebrities can’t be photographed at the Met Gala without wearing the most luxurious designer clothing and accessories.

This year is a pretty good example as the red carpet saw some of the priciest items of clothing in its history. Actor and singer, Jared Leto, for one, showed up at the event with a custom-made head that looks exactly like him, courtesy of Gucci. The head was surely a statement piece costing an estimated $11, 368.

Other standouts include Tony Award-winner Billy Porter, who came wearing a headpiece made with 24-karat gold and gold leaf shoes, and Jenifer Lopez, who sported a diamond encrusted necklace worth almost $300,000!

For a Good Cause

The Met is the biggest museum in the United States and draws in almost seven million visitors a year.

All in all, it’s estimated that $3.5 million was spent for this year’s Met Gala and it looks like it was worth it. Wintour has consistently raised millions of dollars year in and year out by heading the event. In fact, she pulled in $13 million in the previous year alone. Throughout her stint as event chair, the 69-year-old fashion maven has managed to raise a grand total of $186 million.

The event initially began as a more casual fundraising dinner in 1948 before becoming what it is today.

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