Met Gala Returns with Beyoncé, Sets Record $31M Fundraising Haul

Each spring, on the first Monday of May, the Metropolitan Museum of Art stages its most elaborate act of cultural alchemy — transforming celebrity, fashion, and philanthropy into something that funds the preservation of human creativity itself. This year, at its 77th gathering, the Met Gala raised $31 million, a record that speaks not only to the wealth in the room but to the enduring human impulse to dress as a form of meaning-making. With Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour as co-chairs, the evening asked its guests to consider whether clothing might be the most democrat