The Met Gala has become a flashpoint for anti-excess protests, but this year's event was the most controversial yet, thanks to the $10 million patronage of honorary co-chairs Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos. The backlash comes amid soaring inequality and Bezos's declining popularity among New York's left-leaning fashion and arts crowd.
Protest group Everyone Hates Elon projected interviews with disgruntled Amazon workers onto Bezos's Manhattan penthouse and circulated 300 containers of fake urine inside the museum to highlight reports that Amazon drivers must work so relentlessly they pee in bottles. Former US Vogue editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson co-hosted a rival 'Ball Without Billionaires' and turned down work to boycott the event. 'Fashion has always had a talent for laundering. In these moments, it wraps the most sinister individuals in silk... This is not new. But I have my limits,' she wrote.
Criticism also came from an unlikely source: The Devil Wears Prada 2, whose plot centres on a tech baron trying to buy a fashion magazine for his girlfriend. The storyline echoes unsubstantiated rumours that Bezos wants to buy Vogue for his wife. Screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna says the similarity is coincidental, but the film reflects a cultural backlash against tech billionaires in fashion.
The gala raised $42 million, with tickets at $100,000, up from $35,000 in 2022. The guestlist has become increasingly tech-oriented, including Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Fashion insiders question whether the industry's relationship with tech barons will survive the growing backlash.
