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Met Gala 2024: Why Is The Event Always Held On First Monday Of May? Explained
Unveiling the mystery behind Met Gala's first Monday tradition. Discover why this iconic fashion event always falls on a specific date before we evaluate tonight's hit and flop looks together!
Met Gala Monday is just a couple of hours away from presenting us with iconic celebrity looks, viral red carpet moments, and juicy gossip bits that are a quintessential by-product of every major Hollywood gathering.
Widely regarded as the Oscars of Fashion, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s fundraising event for its Costume Institute is an exclusive affair, attended by a chosen set of influential and high-profile guests. Like every year, the 2024 Met Gala is scheduled to take place on the first Monday of the fifth month of the calendar, dated May 6, leaving us with an intriguing question as to why the coveted event always occurs on a specific day of the year. If the question has you equally intrigued, you've landed on the right internet link! Scroll down for the answer before you get busy with ranking the best and worst Met looks a couple of hours from now.
Why is the Met Gala held on the first Monday of May?
Despite the Gala being organized since 1948, the custom of it taking place on the first Monday of May goes back only 19 years. While the month of May has become synonymous with the biggest night of fashion recently, between 2001 and 2004 the glittering affair was held in late April. And before that, it traditionally took place in late or early December. 
As per an article published in The New York Times in May 2000, the date of the celebrated fashion event changed in light of the cancellation of an exhibit of the work of French fashion designer Coco Chanel. “It was to be the highlight of the Costume Institute’s fall schedule, as well as the backdrop to its glittering annual gala,” the publication reported.
The exhibition was also canceled following the death of the museum’s chief curator, Richard Martin, in November 1999, as it was apparently impossible for the Costume Institute to have the retrospective ready in time for the scheduled date. Following the cancellation of the exhibition that year, the next year (2001) the museum held the exhibit in honor of former US First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy from May 1 to July 29. The said year, the museum’s Costume Institute Benefit Gala was held on April 23. And, after skipping the event in 2002 because of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the benefit took place on April 28 the following year and on April 26 in 2004.
Lastly, in 2005, the Met festivities were held on the first Monday in May, with an exhibition honoring the luxury fashion house Chanel. Since then, it has become a tradition for the star-studded night to be held on the first Monday in May.
Met Gala 2024 — A look at this year’s theme, chairs, and roster of expected celebrities
The Costume Institute’s theme for Met Gala 2024 is Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, with The Garden of Time being the official dress code. The event, sponsored by TikTok, Loewe, and Condé Nast, will incorporate Zendaya, Chris Hemsworth, Jennifer Lopez, and Bad Bunny as co-chairs, with La Anthony, Gwendoline Christie, Ashley Graham, and Emma Chamberlain taking up red-carpet hosting duties for Vogue.
As for the celebrities selected to grace the year’s biggest fashion night a few hours from now, Saltburn actor Barry Keoghan has secured a seat, and so have Olivia Rodrigo, Uma Thurman, Sarah Paulson, and Cara Delevigne. Not to be left out is Kendall Jenner, who will be marking her return to the Met once again, continuing her streak of one of the much-sought-after appearances at the event. The status of the remaining members of the KarJenner clan remains ambiguous for now.
Rihanna, the Fenty Beauty founder, is also a confirmed Met 2024 guest.
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