[VCR whirring]

[upbeat music]

- [Narrator] The Met Gala showcases

the most amazing fashion in the world.

Worn by global superstars across so many fields,

fashion, culture, sports, politics, among them,

that it has become known simply as

the Oscars of the fashion world.

But it certainly didn't start out that way.

It all began in the 1920s with two dynamic women.

Theatre producer, Irene Lewisohn,

and stage designer, Aline Bernstein.

They spotted a need in the burgeoning cultural scene

of jazz-age New York and went about

creating a collection of costumes

that fellow theater designers could explore

as a source of inspiration.

By 1946 the collection had grown

to some 8,000 pieces, and officially joined

the Metropolitan Museum of Art as the Costume Institute.

Its ethos was simple, to show clothes as beauty,

part of the embellishment of life.

[uplifting music]

But it wasn't until 1948, thanks to legendary

fashion publicist, Eleanor Lambert,

that the annual fundraising gala was born.

[jazzy music]

Eleanor had form.

She'd already launched New York Fashion Week,

not to mention inventing the concept

of the best-dressed list.

With her Rolodex of the rich and famous,

and the cream of the fashion industry,

the event took off immediately.

Helped with some of her clever branding ideas.

Who wouldn't attend when the invitation

is labeled the party of the year.

Originally conceived as a midnight supper,

the annual event was held at locations

across the city, and became a highlight of the year

for New York's high society.

But it wasn't until Diana Vreeland

took the helm at the Costume Institute

that we start to recognize the event as it is today.

Vreeland had been a legendary editor-in-chief

of American Vogue, where she reflected

the diversity and dynamism of the 1960s youth-quake

in the magazine's wildly extravagant

and visually stimulating pages.

She was less in step with the vibe of the 1970s, however,

and was fired at the cusp of the decade.

[jaunty music]

She turned her energy and talents

to the Costume Institute,

working as an all-powerful consultant,

and directing a string of blockbuster exhibitions.

And with Vreeland in charge the gala took on a new role.

As well as raising funds for the Institute,

the event served to spread the word

about the exhibitions there.

[phones ringing]

She did this by harnessing major well-known names

to co-chair, including the former first lady,

Jacqueline Onassis, and moving the gala

into the museum itself.

With the help of famous decorator, Billy Baldwin,

who had transformed her own apartment

into a garden in Hell as she requested,

the museum itself became the backdrop

for the party of the year.

And the dinner decor was as dramatic as she was.

After Mrs. Vreeland's death in 1989

the gregarious socialite Pat Buckley

took over the gala, which continued to feature

the best dressed swans of Manhattan's society.

During her tenure, excessively priced after party tickets

were available for dessert and dancing

in the museum's great hall.

Which would be thronged with hundreds of revelers

eager to admire the dinner guests as they left.

[fabric tearing]

That all changed in 1995 when Anna Wintour,

who had shaken up Vogue since becoming editor-in-chief

seven years before, took the reigns.

[dynamic music]

Under Anna the guest list reflected

the pages of her new Vogue.

Up until then the event had been held in early December.

But following the death of the Institute's curator,

Richard Martin, in 1999, the gala was moved to spring 2001.

The spring season was then less crowded

with social events than the Manhattan fall,

and seemed to encourage a lighter spirit in fashion choices.

So the date stuck and the first Monday in May was born.

The entertainment changed too.

In recent years some of the biggest acts in the world

have delighted the guests with

surprise performances after dinner.

From Rihanna performing "Bitch Better Have my Money"

on top of one of the dinner tables in the American Court,

to Cher turning back time in the Temple of Dendur,

and Madonna surrounded by monks performing "Like a Prayer"

as she descended the great staircase.

Months of work go into planning each look,

with guests collaborating with designers and glam squads

to interpret the exhibition theme.

Meanwhile, on the night, the sidewalks

outside local hotels, and of course Fifth Avenue,

opposite the Met, throng with onlookers

eager to get a first glimpse of their favorite

best-dressed icons as they leave

or arrive for the red carpet.

[people chattering]

And what entrances.

[dynamic music]

Who could forget the moment Rihanna stepped onto

the red carpet in that Chinese yellow Guo Pei cape in 2015.

[horn blowing] [fireworks exploding]

Or Lady Gaga's costume changes, four of them,

before she'd even made it to the receiving line.

During Anna's time as chair the exhibitions

have celebrated fashion designers

from Coco Chanel to Alexander McQueen.

And themes as diverse as 18th century France,

punk, and superheroes.

This year's exhibition was conceived by

the Institute's revered curator-in-charge, Andrew Bolton.

And celebrates the 150th anniversary of the museum

by considering the nature of time.

Presenting a chronology of fashion

from 1870 to 2020, Bolton considers

how those forms have been revisited

and reimagined in ensuing decades.

And how designers from Claire McCardell

and Edith Head, to John Galliano and Nicolas Ghesquiere,

have used the resources of the Costume Institute

to find inspiration in their own work.

Realizing the dream that Irene Lewisohn

and Aline Bernstein harbored a century ago.

[uplifting music]