2018 Met Gala: What It Is, This Year's Theme, Celebrity Sightings

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A large portion of the world's wealth and influence will be gathered together Monday night on the Upper East Side for 2018's Met Gala.

This year's gala — which is always held on the first Monday of May — will have the divine theme of "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination," according to the Met's website. Each year's theme reflects the annual show of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute.

The "Heavenly Bodies" exhibit will feature robes and accessories from the Sistine Chapel sacristy, according to the Costume Institute's website. Some of the pieces have never been seen outside The Vatican and the exhibit is expected to be one of the institute's largest in years. The exhibit will also feature fashions from the early twentieth century to the present, which will be on display at the Met's Byzantine and medieval galleries and at the Met Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park.

The gala is a giant fundraiser for the Costume Institute that draws some of the world's biggest celebrities and the uber-wealthy who want to be seen with them. Individual tickets for the event sell for $30,000 and a table goes for $275,000. The Costume Institute is the recipient of ticket proceeds, and is one of the museum's only self-funded curatorial departments, the New York Times reported.

Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue, has served as the Met Gala's co-chair since 1995, according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's website. This year she will be joined by co-chairs Rihanna, Donatella Versace and Amal Clooney, the Times reported. Blackstone founder Stephen A. Schwarzman and his wife Christine are honorary chairs and the first people to name-sponsor the event since 1997, according to the report.

While the Met Gala is an incredibly exclusive event, it has a large following among the "normal" members of society. For those who can't dish out $30,000 for a part and aren't' glamorous enough to receive an invite from a high fashion designer, the main attraction is the Met Gala red carpet show.

Patch will update this article with some of the best looks from this year's Met Gala.

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