Chapter 1: What is the Met Gala and why is it significant?
This is The Guardian. The Met Gala, it's got a lot to do with fashion, but it is also about, like, who's got the power. You know, it's a grotesque pageant, sort of a striking representation of the way that rich people co-opt arts and sport and culture. And at the moment, the big tech has the money.
Tomorrow is one of fashion's most glamorous nights, the annual Met Gala in New York City. This year, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sanchez Bezos are the lead sponsors and honorary chairs.
The thing about Jeff Bezos is that he's definitely not known for his style. And I would say Lauren Sanchez is not particularly known for her style either. In the last sort of nine months or so, there have also been rumours that Bezos is possibly plans to buy Condé Nast. The sort of crossover between ethics and the neckline of doing this is not an obvious one.
Tonight's glitzy Met Gala in New York will be co-chaired by Jeff Bezos, drawing condemnation and calls for a boycott. Why has Anna Wintour turned the fashion gala into a tech bro ball? From the Guardians today on Focus, this is the latest with me, Lucy Hoth. Well, I'm joined by Moana Ferrier, the Guardian's fashion and lifestyle editor. Thanks so much for dialing in, Moana. No problem.
So this evening, there is this hotly anticipated, I mean, it's like this blockbuster moment in the fashion calendar, isn't it? The Met Gala in New York, which is hosted by Anna Wintour, formerly the editor of Vogue, now in a sort of
oversight role at Condé Nast the publishing company but this year's gala is drawing controversy for the sponsorship and attendance of Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sanchez what's going on in terms of that relationship and why this is happening?
So the Met Gala, technically it's a fundraiser for the Costin Institute, which is a part of the museum. And they raise money through selling very, very, very expensive tickets. It's $100,000 of tickets, right? Which is more than it was last year. And for a whole table, it's $350,000. Wow.
It's got a lot to do with fashion, but it is also about kind of like who's got the power, who are the big names. And also there's sort of interesting time for the industry because luxury fashion is kind of bottoming out a little bit. So they need money, basically. And this is kind of where Jeff Bezos has sort of stepped in.
Now, he already has a relationship with Anna Wintour and Vogue in that Lauren Sanchez, his wife, Lauren Sanchez Bezos, appeared on the cover of Vogue last year.
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Chapter 2: Who are this year's honorary chairs and why are they controversial?
It was about her wedding. Anna Wintour was quite involved in that side of things, helping her pick her dress. And so over the past eight or nine months, there's just been a kind of very sort of gradual sort of influx from the Bezos side
couple into the fashion industry and we've kind of reached it's kind of the tip of the iceberg here which is funding or partially funding the Met Gala and it's thought that they are donating 10 million dollars I don't know the exact figure and there's kind of different figures kind of on the internet but it's a lot of money basically
I mean, Moena, in so many ways, Jeff Bezos needs no introduction, but obviously is in many ways emblematic of the toxicity of this tech bro billionaire class. The reported working conditions at Amazon, where he made his initial fortune. His recent purchase of The Washington Post, which has led to mass layoffs of hundreds of journalists there.
His support, his close ties with the Trump administration, his initial donation of $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund, his attendance along with other journalists. tech giants of the inauguration itself and his funding through Amazon Studios of a documentary in inverted commas about Trump's wife Melania that has proved highly controversial.
So the fact that this man with his wife are not just attending but co-chairing and sponsoring an event like the Met Gala speaks to something politically, doesn't it?
It has come at, I mean, the timing is terrible, obviously, with laying everybody off at the Washington Post. So he's not, he's obviously not shy about his involvement in it. And some people describe the Zomet Gala as the big box clout store, which is kind of the idea that these people are kind of vying for cultural relevancy.
The thing about fashion is people have an idea of it and it seems kind of rarefied. It seems exciting and exclusive. It's It's something that even if you've got all the money in the world, you can't necessarily access it. And I think that's kind of what these people with big money, what they want is the one thing they can't, apart from happiness, they can't necessarily get into that world.
And they like to be associated with something quite rarefied and exclusive like that.
the whole thing is it's a right with symbolism because it is obviously all about optics and it's about you know amazon are selling clothes as well and this this sort of circular aspect of this is kind of quite sort of startling and that's kind of what makes it sort of feel so shocking because at the same time it's in the middle of new york which you know is obviously is a wealthy city but there's there's great growth inequality there and you have this one night where there's people always people kind of walking up these steps because essentially it's just a
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Chapter 3: What financial implications does the Met Gala have?
And it is interesting the optics of this, as you say, these sort of by an event that by definition is so elitist happening in a city which has just voted in a socialist progressive mayor who has decided to boycott the event along with his wife for the first time.
Yeah. I mean, it's not I don't it's funny because I don't know if he's technically hasn't boycotted it. He's just declined the invite. But yes, it's been for decades. Mayors have gone. And as I said, lots of politicians do go. Interestingly, Trump is apparently has been banned since 2017, which is interesting. So she obviously she does have some integrity there.
But obviously he was a big the Trumps were big kind of they always went. And there doesn't seem to be much kind of, you know, the sort of crossover between ethics and the net goal doesn't seem to be a kind of, you know, it's not an obvious one. But yes, Mandani has declined. And I think it's, you know, it's very smart of him not to go.
Because a few years ago when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went and she wore this sort of beautiful white dress with the words tax, the rich sort of painted on the back of it. And she obviously was using it as a kind of very canny vote opportunity for her.
but there was a lot of backlash on the left and the right that she just didn't need to go really they don't pay for their tickets uh in their defense but it's it you know the problem is is it is it is a it is the whole thing is the performance it is about how good you look it's about clothes and the clothes cost money and so the optics just you know however you sort of try and frame it attending is just not necessarily the right optics if you do do align yourself as a sort of socialist
Putting the politics aside, I mean, this was originally a fashion event organised by the most powerful woman in the fashion industry, who's been this sort of gatekeeper of taste for so many decades now. I mean, I think it's safe to say Jeff Bezos is not renowned for his great sense of style. And the gala itself is being described as a tech bro ball, given that
OpenAI, Snapchat, Meta have all bought these enormously expensive tables as well. So what does that tell us?
Well, I mean, it's interesting because there is an idea that it is very exclusive and very elitist. And it's all those things. It's invite only. But at the same time, she is a gatekeeper, but also she needs the right people there. It's all about optics. It's about having... Optics is about securing financial backing. And Jeff Bezos is kind of at the back of that. And wealthy people have always...
had their sort of playthings, there's kind of a Gatsby element to it, right?
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Chapter 4: How does Jeff Bezos's involvement affect the perception of the Met Gala?
So if you think of a culture institution, it's always got slightly murky benefactors. And we know that from sort of the Sackler involvement in lots of museums.
Including the Met, where the gala takes place.
Exactly. And, you know, in many ways, he's just another kind of version of that. The function of the gala itself, you know, it's a grotesque pageant. But this kind of this very sort of nefarious sort of race pipeline between the benefactors and the museum is not sort of unique to fashion. It's sort of a sort of striking representation of the way that rich people co-ops arts and sport and culture.
And at the moment, the big tech has the money. Now, you know, this earlier this year, Mark Zuckerberg was on the front row at the Prada exhibition.
Again, not a man known for his fantastic sense of style.
No, no, no. And in some ways, I mean, the thing about Jeff Bezos is that he's definitely not known for his style. And I would say Lauren Sanchez is not particularly known for her style either. But she has a great interest in it.
There has been an idea that perhaps Jeff Bezos is trying to kind of bring Lauren into the fashion world to kind of give us sort of a bit of kind of, I don't know, cultural cachet in that sense. In the last sort of nine months or so, there have also been rumours that Bezos is possibly, or he plans to buy Condé Nast.
Now, there's nothing to back this up at all, apart from the fact that they just seem to be quite involved in Vogue and in Condé Nast, and the Met Gala kind of sort of plays into that rumour. But this would kind of, you know, this doesn't not fuel that rumour. Oh, gosh.
Jeff Bezos having yet more control over our media landscape doesn't fill the heart with gladness. But Moana, thank you so much for your time. No problem. That's it for today. My huge thanks again to Morwenna Ferrier, The Guardian's fashion and lifestyle editor. You can keep up with her writing over at theguardian.com.
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Chapter 5: What are the ethical concerns surrounding the Met Gala's sponsorship?
This episode was presented by me, Lucy Hoff. It was produced by Bryony Moore and Sam Gruet. The lead producer was Zoe Hitch. This is The Guardian.