Lifestyle
Can the Costume Institute Survive Without the Met Gala?
For years, as the Met Gala has grown ever bigger, blanketing social media with pictures of guests in their finery, smashing cultural fund-raising records, teetering tantalizingly on the line between fabulous and ridiculous, the questions and controversies surrounding New York’s “party of the year” have likewise proliferated.
Could the shindig, nominally a benefit for the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, get any more high-profile? When most of the country was struggling, should any institution be charging $100,000 a ticket for a party? And perhaps most importantly: What would happen when Anna Wintour, the evening’s mastermind and the woman who transformed it from a typical charity ball into an attention-guzzling juggernaut, retired?
Would the brands and people willing to pony up these exorbitant sums to be in one another’s orbits instead pocket the money? And if so, what would that mean for the future of the Costume Institute, a department that has been almost fully dependent on the gala as a source of its annual funds since the party began in 1948?
Could it even survive without the extravaganza?
It turns out the museum itself has been quietly working on an answer.
“Since 2016, we have been putting some money that we raised for the gala aside into a quasi endowment,” Andrew Bolton, the Costume Institute’s curator in charge, said this month.
And by 2030 — possibly as soon as 2028 — the Costume Institute will have saved enough of a nest egg to potentially support its own basic operations for the foreseeable future, no matter what happens in the greater museum economy or with the gala itself.
Along with this year’s inauguration of the new Condé M. Nast Galleries in the Great Hall, which will house the Costume Institute’s blockbuster shows, the endowment fund represents a dramatic transformation in the position of the Costume Institute, not to mention its relationship to the party held in its honor.
“I, and the museum, always wanted the department to be not as reliant on the gala every year,” Bolton said. “The Met Gala is extraordinary, but sometimes it dwarfs everything.” Besides, the department has been forced to cancel galas twice, in 2002, after Sept. 11, and in 2020, during the early months of the pandemic.
“It was a real wake-up call,” Bolton said of the Covid cancellation. “What if there was another global disaster, and people were like, ‘I can’t come to a party?’” Ms. Wintour, he said, “takes immense pride in every year going higher and higher. But there will be a point where that’s not sustainable.”
A more permanent and reliable solution was necessary to ensure that “we would be safe in terms of the upkeep and the care of our collection and have enough money to take care of ourselves indefinitely,” Bolton said.
According to Darren Walker, the president of the board of trustees of the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., “it’s always great news if a department can be fully funded. But aside from some private museums, I don’t know of any that actually are.” Enter the endowment fund.
Though Bolton and a museum spokeswoman said it was museum policy not to discuss specific department finances, and though the Met does not break out such numbers in its annual report, they did acknowledge the Costume Institute fund had been formally created in 2016 and was, like most of the museum’s endowments, run by the Met’s investment and development teams. Currently, the department’s operating costs include salaries for curators, researchers and conservators; storage and conservation of more than 33,000 objects; exhibition costs for the smaller fall shows and publications; and support of the Costume Institute’s Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library. (Bolton also estimated that about 10 percent of the Met Gala money went to the museum itself.)
Still, some back-of-the-envelope math is possible. Given that the operating budget of the Costume Institute is approximately $5 million a year, it would most likely require an endowment of between $100 and $130 million. (According to the American Alliance of Museums, 5 percent is the average draw of an endowment fund.) The gala has raised $166.5 million over the past 10 years, so subtracting the operating costs and the amount that goes directly to the Met would suggest there is approximately $106 million in the fund currently (a bit less if there were unusual expenses one year). If the party continues on the financial trajectory it has set for another two to four years, that would easily ensure enough capital in the fund to allow the department to essentially live off the interest going forward.
“It is important for the Costume Institute, as it is for every department at the Met, that we do not spend all of the money raised annually,” said Max Hollein, the director and chief executive of the Met. The goal, he said, is “saving and investing funds so that the museum can be prepared for future challenges as well as cost increases.”
The Met’s overall operating costs were $427.6 million in the 2025 fiscal year, the last reported period, and that includes 17 different curatorial departments with widely varying budgets. Many departments also have their own directed endowments, including gifts earmarked for acquisitions or curatorial positions. The Annenberg Foundation grant, for example, awarded in 2001, gave the museum $10 million to create a fund for the acquisition of European paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures and decorative arts.
What made the Costume Institute an anomaly in the museum ecosystem was that it raised most of its money via a party — one that had increasingly overshadowed almost every other activity of the museum itself, and that, like Wintour’s daytime employer, Condé Nast, seemed increasingly reliant on her presence and power . And though Wintour has been quick to say she is not going anywhere, she is 76 and last year relinquished day-to-day control of American Vogue to focus on her role as Condé’s chief content officer.
“Anna Wintour is not replaceable,” said William Norwich, the editor for fashion and interior design at Phaidon Press and a former editor at Vogue. (In recognition of her efforts, the downstairs Costume Institute galleries were christened the Anna Wintour Costume Center in 2014.)
Also, because the gala traditionally inaugurates a blockbuster exhibition, it by definition requires that the Costume Institute put on a major show every year, rather than adhere to the more traditional schedule of smaller shows with one mega-show every other year or every three years. That creates what Bolton described as “enormous pressure” for the department.
And the party has increasingly become a lightning rod for uncomfortable discussions about social and financial inequality. Since 2021, there have been protests around the event over police brutality, climate change and the war in Gaza. This year, posters have gone up calling for a boycott because of the involvement of Jeff Bezos, the evening’s honorary chair and main sponsor, pointing to allegations of worker exploitation, among other issues. Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York, has publicly announced he is not going to attend.
Allowing the gala’s profile and profit goals (the party raised $31 million in 2025) to be downsized would take some of the pressure and attention off the museum and the brands that have supported it. Many of them have begun privately bemoaning the expense of the party, which involves not just buying tickets but also paying for celebrity guests to fly in with their entourages, stay in five-star hotels, wear custom looks and have their hair and makeup done. (This year’s fashion sponsor, Saint Laurent, is underwriting only the exhibition catalog.) Especially as the luxury industry enters a period of slower growth.
Still, Norwich said he doubted it would ever go entirely away. “There is an ongoing human need and fascination for such parties,” Norwich said. “Celebrity and fashion and the sparklers will always need to be seen in order to be believed and in order to be distinguished from the crowds.”
In any case, even once the endowment is complete, more fund-raising will always be required. Operating costs continue to rise, there are special one-off investments required to maintain and expand a department, and the major exhibitions themselves require their own sponsors. But the amounts involved will not be as onerous, or as imperative. Indeed, it seems the very reason for the price inflation may have been to anticipate a time when it will no longer be necessary.
In a texted statement, Wintour simply said, “As a Met trustee, I have always felt strongly that the Costume Institute must stand on a solid footing.”
Now it is almost there. Which means, when it comes to the party, “it’ll be interesting to see how it’s going to evolve,” Bolton said.
Robin Pogrebin contributed reporting.
Pedro Pascal in The Mandalorian And Grogu.
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The Mandalorian has made the jetpack-assisted leap to the big screen with the new movie Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu. The laconic bounty hunter (Pedro Pascal) and his cute sidekick Grogu are hired by the good guys to do a job for some bad guys. You know what you’re gonna get – creatures, droids, easter eggs, and lots of fights. But, after three seasons on Disney+, will folks go out to the theaters to watch something they’ve gotten to know on their couches?
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When Steven Lewis volunteered to co-chair a renovation committee in 2022 for his Pacific Palisades synagogue, he had no idea that the project would become his emotional anchor when his home burned three years later.
“It was something positive that I could focus on,” Lewis said. “I don’t know how I would have gotten through the past year and a half without this project.”
For the record:
10:26 a.m. May 20, 2026A previous version of this story stated the homes of two Kehillat Israel rabbis had burned in the fire. Three rabbis lost their homes.
On Friday, the synagogue reopened after being closed since Jan. 7, 2025, following the devastating fire. Kehillat Israel didn’t burn but suffered significant smoke damage. What had begun years ago as a revitalization project added a layer of remediation. It’s now one of the first religious spaces to reopen in the Pacific Palisades since the fire swept through the neighborhood where more than 70% of its members lived.
Lewis and his family are among the 230 Kehillat Israel (KI) families who lost their homes in the Palisades fire, including the congregation’s three rabbis, with an additional 250 families who were displaced. Most, including Lewis, are in various stages of grappling with insurance, permits and construction, whether they have to rebuild from the ground up or salvage their homes by remediating damage caused by toxic smoke.
Roughly 480 Kehillat Israel families lost their homes or were displaced after the Palisades fire. The temple’s reopening was a nourishing moment for a grief-stricken community.
(Robin Aronson Photography)
As part of its opening reception, the synagogue hosted Shabbat services. The 400-person capacity sanctuary was stuffed. Neighbors embraced and caught up in the courtyard and social hall, kids zoomed around with friends, and, when it was time for services to begin, attendees clamored in a clump of joyful chaos as they attempted to enter the newly remodeled sanctuary. Services were full of singing and speeches as congregants filled the rows, lined the walls, and spilled into the aisles. With a full band accompanying the Reconstructionist congregation’s services, the tone was one of joy, reunion and celebration.
“It was a monumental moment, which we were so grateful for,” said Meredith Kaplan, a multigenerational temple member who lost her home in the fire. “But it also just felt so normal and good. Back in the synagogue, almost, in a weird way, like no time had passed.”
A new ark, which houses the temple’s Torahs, was dedicated to the ebullient Cantor Chayim Frenkel and his wife Marcy Frenkel.
Cantor Chayim Frenkel and daughter Mandi Frenkel sing together in front of the new Torah ark.
(Robin Aronson Photography)
“The Torahs are always the first things we rescue from the sanctuary when there are fires,” said Frenkel, who has been with the synagogue for 40 years. “Knowing that our story is safe and surrounded by this beautiful design, and to have it dedicated in honor of me and my wife, Marcy, is extremely powerful.”
The clergy specifically placed the handles of the tall ark at the bottom, so that even preschoolers would be able to open it. As the congregation stood before the ark within the bowl-shaped sanctuary for the first time since the fires, Rabbi Amy Bernstein performed the blessing used to dedicate the first Jewish temple in Jerusalem 3,000 years prior.
“May it be a place where all who enter find inspiration, affirmation and connection,” Bernstein said.
While many faith institutions had to close because of the Palisades and Eaton fires, Kehillat Israel was uniquely positioned to be among the first to reopen. At least 14 sanctuaries burned to the ground last January.
In 2022, the temple staff began a limited revitalization project. Handles were falling off and fabrics were showing their wear since a major remodel 31 years prior. Technology needs had also long been eclipsed; Kehillat Israel has been live-streaming its services since the pandemic. So the committee hired architects and builders, made plans, got permits, and — crucially — raised funds all prior to the Palisades fire. The plan was to retain the beloved sanctuary’s original design, while making technical and some aesthetic upgrades. Originally slated for completion in fall 2024, project delays allowed KI to start work on the building quickly after the fire — albeit with the new work of smoke damage remediation — and the decision to stay faithful to the sanctuary’s look became even more salient. For many, it was one of the last few remaining familiar spaces.
Hugs and selfies abounded at Shabbat services.
(Robin Aronson Photography)
Other synagogues, churches and mosques are on the path to rebuilding, but they are facing the same hurdles as many of their congregants and members, and then some. L.A. City Councilmember Traci Park, who represents the Palisades, says she has been working closely with faith institutions, but that insurance disputes and fundraising have been a challenge.
“Their ability to rebuild is very much tied to their active membership,” said Park, who attended the reopening. “But their own members have lost their homes and are mired in their own uncertainty and financial challenges.”
Despite differences in rebuilding efforts, the faith community celebrated the win of a congregation, even if it was not theirs. Rabbi Daniel Sher, also of Kehillat Israel, said he received texts from rabbis across the city encouraging him to bask in the moment. Rabbi Bernstein is close friends with Rev. Grace Park of the Palisades Presbyterian Church, which burned in the fire, and they are excited about what this reopening means for forging ties between their congregations in ways only the fire made possible.
“It sounds cliche, but the walls between our communities literally burned to the ground,” Bernstein said. “We are both aware that we’d like to start doing more things together — not just for Grace’s congregation and my congregation — but bringing people of the Palisades, or those who want to come to the Palisades, together.”
The congregation gathers for a Shabbat meal, packing a temple hall.
(Robin Aronson Photography)
The synagogue’s reopening signals that the wheels of Palisades recovery are in motion. Carole and David White, who lost their Palisades townhome, had been eagerly anticipating the reopening services.
“It means the world,” said Carole White. “It’s truly one day at a time, and some days are better than others.”
“And today is a good one,” said David White. “It’s the closest we’ve been to coming home.”
Rose Byrne poses at a 2025 press conference in Berlin for If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.
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Rose Byrne is one of the few actors to receive both an Oscar and a Tony nomination in the same year — the former for the film If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, and the latter for Fallen Angels on Broadway.
If I Had Legs was an intense indie film about a mother falling apart as she struggles to keep up with ever-increasing caregiving demands for her ill daughter. Byrne, who previously starred in blockbuster comedies like Neighbors and Bridesmaids, was praised for showing her range. Now, she’s returning to comedy in the revival of Noël Coward’s 1925 play about two wealthy women who find out a man they were each previously involved with is coming to town.
Kelli O’Hara, Mark Consuelos and Rose Byrne star in the Broadway revival of Fallen Angels.
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“I had long wanted to do a true comedic piece onstage, like it’s one of my dreams,” Byrne says of Fallen Angels. “We are trying to reach the back row, so physically, … I felt like I was screaming when I first got up [there], because we’re not wearing mics either.”
Byrne’s Fallen Angels character gets progressively drunk — and increasingly loud — throughout the play. She credits Coward’s “brilliant” writing and stage directions with guiding her performance.
“The language he used, the sort of linguistic gymnastics and the extraordinary vocabulary of Noël Coward is a delight,” she says. “I never tire of sitting backstage and I’m constantly rediscovering the words that he peppers throughout.”
Interview highlights
On her role in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Mary Bronstein wrote this incendiary screenplay and I just did not want to mess it up. It was such a creative opportunity. … We hit it off and had a real experience, one of those experiences in life that, creatively, has kind of changed me.
[The film] defies generalization or description, because it’s sort of like a fever dream, in a way. It has gallows humor in there. There’s horror tropes in the film, too. I think Mary Bronstein [who also directed the film] really broke the mold with the tone of the film, in many ways. She … tapped into the monster within and the fear of being a parent and the horror of being a parent, and some of the joy too, but obviously she’s in a really extraordinarily difficult situation, this woman. I still can’t believe the film got as far as it did, just because it was a small independent film.
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You was a small independent movie, says Byrne, “I still can’t believe the film got as far as it did.”
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On the constant beeping of medical equipment in the background of If I Had Legs
These noises get magnified and actually Mary Bronstein made those louder, just a bit, like the clock on the wall, the beeping of the machine, all those things were louder because they are in [the main character’s] point of view. And it is as a parent, those things become overstimulating. It’s relentless and, [Bronstein] wanted to capture that claustrophobia.
On why viewers don’t get to see the daughter or know what her illness is
The conceit of not seeing the daughter, and Mary has spoken to this many times, but [it’s] sort of a two-prong thing in that I don’t think Linda, my character, can see her daughter at this point. She’s so drowning and beginning this real descent into her mental health crisis. … Also for the audience to have that choice taken away to not see the daughter, you’re forced to reckon with the mother. Because as soon as you put a child on screen, your empathy, as it should, goes to the child. They’re so vulnerable, and immediately your concern will go to them, and so she takes that choice away from the viewer. So you are forced to be in the perspective of the mother.
On parenting after spending the day on set
Kids are so in-the-moment and grounding and — in the best way — they’re not particularly interested if you’ve had a hard day. But it’s so wonderful because you immediately snap into your role as mom, the greatest role, the most challenging, the most fun. And so for me, it’s church and state … leave it at work. I mean, obviously there were days when I was more exhausted or tired or [it’s] harder to let things go. But children are the great equalizer, as a parent.
On the thrill of filming the 2011 film Bridesmaids
We had such a fun time. It was a great group of actresses. I couldn’t believe I was there. … It’s already extraordinary to have that many scenes with just women. I’ve had that once since then when I did Mrs. America , [a] show for FX about the second wave of feminism. … But this was really, really special. And we had no idea that it would go on to become such a beloved movie and all of that. But the shooting of it was wonderful. It was an education in the brilliance of these comedic actresses and the performances. … It changed my life in so many ways. It really did. … The improv stuff, it’s just like a skillset that is still I marvel … they make it look effortless.
Therese Madden and Thea Chaloner produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Beth Novey adapted it for the web.
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