An invitation controlled by one person and one institution. Nobody sells a seat to this, and anyone who says otherwise is selling something else.
What we can put you in
Arrangements made only through legitimate channels — table, house or institution
Dressing: fittings, houses, and the jewellery to go with them
The evening around it, including the rooms that open once the museum closes
Cars and a route that works with Fifth Avenue shut
Around it
Drink
Bemelmans Bar
The Carlyle, on 76th. Murals by the man who wrote Madeline, a piano from the early evening, and the only sensible place on the Upper East Side to begin or end a night like that one.
Eat
The Polo Bar
Below street level on 55th, and reliably the hardest small room in Manhattan. Steak, martinis, and a door policy that has not softened.
Explore
The exhibition itself
The Costume Institute show the gala opens runs for months afterwards. Seeing it properly, in daylight, without a thousand people in it, is the better experience.
Dates, tiers and price come back together, and only once the route is confirmed. Nothing here is held until you ask for it.
