Inside Met Gala 2025: No phones, no garlic, all glam

Every first Monday of May (or Tuesday, since we are in India), New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art hosts fashion’s most exclusive night — the Met Gala — where couture meets culture and celebrity meets spectacle.

More than just a red carpet event, the Gala is a fundraising powerhouse for the museum’s Costume Institute and sets the tone for fashion trends globally. This year, Indian stars Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Kiara Advani and Diljit Dosanjh will be walking the famed steps, adding desi sparkle to the global style scene.

The theme — Superfine: Tailoring Black Style — draws from Monica L Miller’s book Slaves to Fashion. With the dress code Tailored for You, it’s the first Met Gala in over 20 years focused solely on menswear. The theme explores how Black dandies use fashion to shape identity across the Atlantic diaspora.

Inside the museum? A strict no-phones, no-photos policy keeps the mystique alive. Chef Kwame Onwuachi, known for infusing African and Caribbean flavours in American style, will lead the menu — but forget onions, garlic or parsley; anything that risks couture (and bad breath!) carnage is banned.

Even where you sit isn’t up to you — the seating chart is a masterclass in diplomacy, avoiding drama and aligning public narratives.

And entry doesn’t come cheap — according to last year’s Time’s report, a single ticket cost around $75,000 ( ₹63 lakh), all for a night where fashion history is quite literally stitched together.