The Met Gala, also known as the Costume Institute Gala, is an annual fundraising gala that benefits the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York City. The gala marks the grand opening of the costume institute’s fashion exhibit. Each year’s event corresponds to the theme of that year’s costume institute exhibition, and the invited guests are expected to match their fashion to the theme of that year. After the met gala, the fashion exhibit runs for a few months. The Met Gala is considered one of the most exclusive social events to take place in New York, as well as one of the biggest fundraising nights in the city, pulling in an average of 12 million dollars. This mainly has to do with the fact that the ticket price to attend is $30,000 for those outside of the guest list, comprised of about only 650-700 people. Karina Santiago, ‘19 shared her opinions on the Met Gala. She says, “I’ve always taken notice of the Met Gala every year because of all the extravagant outfits that they wear, but I never really knew what the actual purpose of it was, I thought it was just a red carpet gathering.”