Oscars of the East Coast (Met Gala nickname)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute has held an annual fundraiser since 1948, called the Costume Institute Gala, but usually known as the “Met Gala” or “Met Ball.” Famous guests walk on a red carpet, much like at the film industry’s “Oscars” (Academy Awards).
The Met Gala has been dubbed the “Oscars of the East Coast” since at least 2007. Another nickname for the Met Gala is the “Party of the Year.”
Other Met Gala descriptions include “The Met Gala is just Final Fantasy cosplay for rich people,” “Met Gala is the ugly sweater contest for the upper class,” “The Met Gala is Burning Man for people named in the Panama Papers,” “Met Gala is just Burning Man for rich(er) people,” “The Met Gala is like a bougie Halloween party,” “The Met Gala is just boujee Halloween,” “The Met Gala is Halloween for celebrities” and “The Met Gala is just Halloween for rich people.” “What’s a Met Gala?”/“A type of apple found in New York. Also why it’s called the Big Apple” is a Gala apple joke.
The Met: The Costume Institute
The fashion industry funds the work of The Costume Institute, including its exhibitions, acquisitions, and capital improvements. Each May, the annual Gala Benefit, its primary fund-raising event, celebrates the opening of the spring exhibition. Under the leadership of Trustee Anna Wintour (Artistic Director of Condé Nast and Editor-in-Chief of Vogue), who has been co-chair since 1995 (excluding 1996 and 1998), the gala has become one of the most visible and successful charity events, drawing attendees from the fashion, film, society, business, and music industries. The brainchild of publicity doyenne Eleanor Lambert, the benefit was introduced in 1948 as a midnight supper and dubbed “The Party of the Year.” Co-chairs in past years included Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1977–1978) and Patricia Taylor Buckley (1979–1995).
Wikipedia: Met Gala
The Met Gala, formally called the Costume Institute Gala and also known as the Met Ball, is an annual fundraising gala for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York City. It marks the grand opening of the Costume Institute’s annual fashion exhibit. Each year’s event celebrates the theme of that year’s Costume Institute exhibition, and the exhibition sets the tone for the formal dress of the night, since guests are expected to choose their fashion to match the theme of the exhibit. Each year the event also has honorary celebrity event day chairpersons.
Details
The Costume Institute Gala is a major fundraising benefit that serves as an opening celebration for the Institute’s annual fashion exhibit. Following the event, the exhibition runs for several months.
Financial Times
May 4, 2007 8:28 pm
It’s all gone Poiret-shaped
By Bronwyn Cosgrave
Prada turbans, Yves Saint Laurent tunics, opulent Dries Van Noten embroidery and Marc Jacobs harem trousers will be scarce this week in Manhattan. They will have been squirrelled away months ago by the fashion grandees, socialites, supermodels and cultural stars set to attend Monday’s Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute Ball. Also known as the “Oscars of the east coast” due to the red carpet scrum, this year’s gala will be dedicated to the work of the early 20th- century couturier Paul Poiret.
The Corsair
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Met Costume Gala
Whither The Met Gala (Otherwise known as “The Oscars of the east Coast”)?
Independent (UK)
The POW!! factor: Comic-book superheroes can also be style icons
Carola Long has a sneak preview at a new exhibition in New York
Sunday 20 April 2008
(...)
The Met’s annual Costume Institute exhibition and gala is now a highlight of the fashion calendar, described as the Oscars of the East Coast.
PerezHilton
Oscars of the East Coast Are Toast?
6/30/2009 3:45 PM ET | Filed under: Fashion Smashion
You know how you’ve thought it’s not fair that filthy rich celebrities still receive free thousand dollar gift bags and are glammed up at the expense of everyone else?
Well, the economy is finally reaching this untouchable clientele!
The 2010 Met Costume Institute Gala has put it all out there. Really, really out there.
3 May 2011, Boston (MA) Globe, “Bradys make it to the Met,” pg. G16:
Every year at this time, Tom Brady goes to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. But the Pats QB isn’t really there to see the art. Instead, No. 12 slicks back his hair, dons a tux, and strolls the red carpet at the “Oscars of the East Coast” - the Met’s Costume Institute Gala. Known informally as the “Met Ball,” last night’s event was a gathering of beautiful people from the worlds of fashion, film, music, and, in Brady’s case, football.
New York (NY) Times
What Is the Met Gala, and Who Gets to Go?
Vanessa Friedman
ON THE RUNWAY MAY 2, 2016
Officially, it’s the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Benefit, a black-tie extravaganza held the first Monday in May to raise money for the Costume Institute (a.k.a. the fashion department), the only one of the Met’s curatorial departments that has to fund itself.
Unofficially, Monday night’s festivities in New York have been called many things, including “the party of the year,” “the Oscars of the East Coast” (mostly because of the star quotient and the elaborate red carpet, in which guests pose on the grand entrance stairs to the museum) and, somewhat pointedly, “an A.T.M. for the Met,” by the publicist Paul Wilmot.
Crowd Ink
#MetGala: The Oscars of the East Coast
From the red carpet looks to the masterpieces in the exhibition, the Met Gala is just a reminder that fashion matters.
By Eros Liu - May 4, 2016
It’s that time of year again: the Met Gala. Officially, the Gala is the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute’s benefit, an extravaganza held the first Monday in May to raise money for the Costume Institute. This major Monday night’s festivities in New York has been called many other names, including “the party of the year,” as well as, “the Oscars of the East Coast,” mainly because stars from the industry pose on the grand entrance stairs to the museum.