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The Met Gala is the place to see and be seen. But some might argue it might not offer the best optics for everyone, depending on your day job. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his wife Rama Duwaji aren’t among the celebrities and other New York politicians attending fashion’s biggest night this year.
Mamdani told New York City metro news outlet HellGate in an interview last month that the event’s reputation clashes with his focus on affordability and economic inequality. The decision is also notable given this year’s honorary chairs: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sánchez Bezos, who are also among the gala’s sponsors alongside Saint Laurent and Condé Nast. Bezos’s involvement has drawn significant backlash. According to The New York Times, a poster plastered near the museum in late April read “The Bezos Met Gala: Brought to you by worker exploitation,” most likely referencing longstanding allegations of worker mistreatment at Amazon fulfillment centers.
Given that the mayor is currently pushing for a tax increase on millionaires, while also having stated that billionaires should not exist in a time of extreme economic inequality, political analysts say his attendance would have been a difficult position for the Mayor’s Office to defend. While mayoral attendance at the Met Gala is often described as tradition, it has not been universal. Former Mayor Eric Adams skipped the red carpet in 2023, 2024, and 2025, making Mamdani’s absence less of a break from recent precedent than some reports have suggested.
The Met Gala also serves as the annual fundraiser for the museum’s Costume Institute, and this year’s banquet has reportedly already broken records, generating more than $42 million. Each year, the Met Gala’s dress code reflects the theme of that year’s accompanying exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This year, the theme is “Costume Art,” and the accompanying exhibition explores the relationship between clothing and the human form across Western art from prehistory to the present. The evening also inaugurated the new 12,000-square-foot Condé M. Nast Galleries at the museum. Along with the Bezoses, co-chairs this year are Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour.
Rachel King (she/her) is a news writer at Town & Country. Before joining T&C, she spent nearly a decade as an editor at Fortune. Her work covering travel and lifestyle has appeared in Forbes, Observer, Robb Report, Cruise Critic, and Cool Hunting, among others. Originally from San Francisco, she lives in New York with her wife, their daughter, and a precocious labradoodle. Follow her on Instagram at @rk.passport.