The Met Gala is an annual spectacle of celebrity that raises money for the museum’s Costume Institute, which works to preserve fashion history. The night’s enduring power can largely be chalked up to the way guests interpret its themed dress code, which changes every year. At its most brilliant, a theme might inspire absurd, campy or daring interpretations by clever designers. In either case, the commentary the theme provokes gives the gala its enduring cultural relevance. Ballard implicitly criticizes the wealthy count’s distance from the public, but the gala essentially celebrates the counts among us.

---

Persons: there’s, Ballard Organizations: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Institute, Costume Institute