It is the biggest night of the year. The one blinded by the unstoppable flashes of photographers, the one chasing the perfect image of singers, actors, athletes, new couples, old lovers, and all the who’s who worth mentioning. With the Oscars excused, the Met Gala has become the most coveted fashion and celebrity event. With New York as the backdrop and the perfect excuse (art, fashion, museums), every first Monday of May the capital of the world lights up for its big night. But this 2026, when everything was close to that perfection so loved by Anna Wintour, there are certain notes that do not quite fit the melody. Especially, the inclusion of Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sánchez, as personal patrons of the gala. Their appearance raises suspicions for many. It’s not just that the city’s mayor refused to attend, in a historic snub. The city is plastered with posters against them.
The Bezos want to be the life of the party. It doesn’t matter where or how, but they spare no money or effort, especially since Sánchez joined the duo, which has made both acquire a much more media profile than when he was married to Mackenzie Scott. And the Met Gala is the brightest candy they could find. Already in 2024 they attended as guests to the party organized by the Metropolitan Museum of New York on the occasion of its annual fashion exhibition, but this year’s is not just any invitation. They will not be there to pay $75,000 per head, or $350,000 for a table in Amazon’s name, like so many other tech companies that have gone from being the high school nerds to the prom queens. The Bezos have donated six million dollars for the event, so they are now, personally, co-hosts of the gala. That means being the ones who receive and shake hands with the guests. And standing next to Anna Wintour herself. But it was she who opened the doors wide for them.
Wintour has spent decades transforming the Met Gala — which began in 1948 as a small local event to raise funds for the museum and its fashion collection — into the gigantic global event it is today. Just last year, she managed to secure $31 million for the Met’s Costume Institute (its fashion wing). Her work has been such that for a decade now, since she inaugurated it alongside Michelle Obama, the exhibition area itself is called the Anna Wintour Costume Center. But the British Empire dame has changed her tune these years to welcome the Bezos into her fold, in a move so strange it seems to play more in the medium or long term.
The always feisty Democrat, fundraiser also for presidents and candidates of that party, and who was once rumored to be an ambassador for some of them, is now close to the Amazon founder and his wife, who are close to Donald Trump and who attended, not exactly discreetly, the last inauguration of the current president — this week they also did not miss the White House gala dinner on the occasion of the State visit of King Charles III and Camilla —. Wintour gave Lauren (then just Sánchez) a flattering profile in Vogue in 2023, but above all a bridal cover last summer. They are also seen together at haute couture shows in Paris. They now play at returning the favor with a generous donation that makes them co-hosts.
This is not the only cultural move by the Bezos. Beyond the controversial documentary about Melania Trump they financed with $75 million, just a couple of days ago it was announced that Oprah Winfrey, the great American communicator, had signed with Amazon. Thanks to a multi-year, multi-million contract, she will bring her podcast (with almost a million followers) there and also her famous book club starting in July. A couple of years ago, they also acquired the successful podcast of footballer brothers Jason and Travis Kelce, the latter fiancé of singer Taylor Swift. What is behind all this? As pointed out by US media, including The New York Times, Bezos’s intentions could be to acquire Vogue as a company, and even its entire publisher, the powerful Condé Nast, which also publishes titles like The New Yorker, GQ, Architectural Digest, Wired, or Glamour (about to close three editions; the German, Mexican, and Spanish ones).
That step, for now uncertain and distant, would be the final blow demonstrating how Silicon Valley giants have become not only the new rich of the planet but the new shapers of the social and cultural landscape. And that they do so not only through their companies and financial vehicles but by trying to place themselves at the center of the conversation, whether in fashion, series, podcasts, or book clubs. A change of era, after all, that is not to everyone’s taste, and some express it with more strength and grace than others. This is the case of the Everyone Hates Elon movement (Everyone Hates Elon, referring to Elon Musk, the richest man in the world). With very limited budget and capabilities, they have managed to plaster much of New York City with posters critical of the Bezos’s presence at the season’s most prestigious event.
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“Boycott the Bezos at the Met Gala” or “The Met-Bezos Gala, sponsored by labor exploitation” or also “sponsored by the same firm that empowers ICE,” referring to the feared US immigration agency, reads the posters, which seek for Bezos to be financially accountable and pay more taxes. Precisely that reason, taxes, is what Zohran Mamdani, the new mayor of New York, gave to reject the invitation to the gala, which the city’s leader never misses. “I prefer to focus on making the most expensive city in the United States more affordable for its citizens,” said the 34-year-old Democrat, in a decision praised by some and misunderstood by others, who see that his presence that night, if it carries a message, can be even more powerful than silence. This happened with New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who in 2021 wore a viral dress that read “Tax The Rich.”
We will have to wait until Monday — always the first Monday of May — to finally see how important the Bezos end up being in this immense event. Whether they will be protagonists or just another couple, lost in the crowd led by hosts Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and the star, Beyoncé, who hasn’t walked the Met red carpet in a decade. Also as juicy appetizers will be the new head of content (the famous director position no longer exists) of Vogue, Chloé Malle, the successor, if that is possible, to Anna Wintour. And designer Anthony Vaccarello, head of Yves Saint Laurent, and actress Zoë Kravitz, co-presidents of the Host Committee. She has just gotten engaged, moreover, to singer Harry Styles, and this could be their first public appearance together.
Also, this year the theme will not disappoint. The exhibition’s is Costume Art (The Art of Costume), with 400 objects over more than 5,000 years displayed in its new 1,100 square meters, in the heart of the Met; as curator Andrew Bolton explained, based on “the centrality of the dressed body within the museum, connecting artistic representations of the body with fashion as a form of corporeal art.” The gala’s is Fashion is Art, that is, Fashion is Art, hence memorable looks are expected that dialogue and play with the connection between art and fashion. Therefore, there will be many more conversations in the air than about the Bezos. But if what they sought was to be part of it, there is no doubt they have found how to do so.
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