Throw some of the country’s most elite celebrities in a room for a night and there’s bound to be drama. But this year’s Met Gala is heating up more than ever against the backdrop of the Trump administration—especially when the theme is Black style.
The president’s closest cronies are skipping the big-wig party, including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and his fiancée, Lauren Sánchez, who attended last year; “special government employee” and Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, who has gone three times before; and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has also been cozying up to the commander-in-chief himself.
Bernard Arnault, the chairman of luxury good conglomerate LVMH, will also sit the event out. He’s the wealthiest man in France and fifth wealthiest in the world, and some say he’s been buddy-buddy with the president in an effort to avoid the tariff fallout.
ADVERTISEMENT
Even resident fashionista Sarah Jessica Parker is skipping this year’s event but felt compelled to put out a statement explaining why she would not be in attendance.
“I have to work, but there’s gonna be so much to see and I look forward to seeing what everybody does. And I can’t wait to see how they interpret the theme and the sort of homework they did for the assignment,” she said.
But some surprise guests might be in attendance—rumors are rapidly circulating that Kamala Harris herself will make an appearance.
When the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute announced the fashion show, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” Harris was still in the running. She was the first Black woman to ever top a major-party ticket, and the Institute pledged to diverse cultures and Black excellence.
Today, the world looks a little different. President Donald Trump has waged a war on diversity, equity, and inclusion, including programming related to race.
Cultural institutions have borne the brunt of his attacks. In February, Trump seized control of the Kennedy Center to make it less “woke.” In March, he signed an executive order against “improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology” at the Smithsonian museums and vowed to withhold funds that “divide Americans by race.”
Anna Wintour, the architect behind the annual fête, has long raised funds for the Democratic Party and swore in 2017 that she would forevermore prohibit Trump from attending.
The show is completely devoted to designers of color and the Black diaspora, and the iconic costumes and bizarre manifestations of the theme will wow, shock, and mystify those tuning into the Monday night production. In the past, the party has been seen as tone-deaf and elitist, but this year’s jamboree provides an opportunity for the famed to prove their allyship.
Along with Wintour, the gala’s co-chairs are ASAP Rocky, Lewis Hamilton, Colman Domingo, Pharrell Williams, and honorary chair LeBron James.
Instagram chief executive Adam Mosseri will be there, despite Zuckerberg’s absence, and Chief Executive of Louis Vuitton Pietro Beccari will show—regardless of his boss Arnault’s presence. Michael Bloomberg will also attend, it was reported Monday by The Times. (He, however, did not attend.)
Ironically, Wintour has claimed that the “show was never about politics, not in conception, not now.”
But she acknowledged still that “the MET recognizing and taking seriously the contributions of Black designers and the Black community in fashion has a heightened meaning in 2025.”
