Opulence Unveiled: Decoding Wealth and Luxury of the Met Gala

The grander, the better. The grandest, the best. That's how the public defines the "success" of looks in the Met. Many of us don't recognize the plain looks, we tend to highlight the luxurious and eccentric appearances. This corresponds to the Theory of Conspicuous Consumption, which argued that wealthy individuals often consume highly conspicuous goods and services in order to advertise their wealth, thereby achieving greater social status (Thorstein Veblen, 1899).

Figure 1. Isoutility curves and the social contact's reaction functions in the symmetric information. Source: Charoenrook, A., & Thakor, A.V., 1998

Based on Figure 1, isoutility curves in the presence of display cost are represented by the solid lines. In the absence of a display cost, the dotted lines correspond to isoutility curves. This embellished how society best responds to the ownership of posh goods. Some claim that this is due to the natural competitive side in humans. This theory also claimed that conspicuous consumption is also driven by advertising. Consumers are drawn to a company's goods when it is marketed as a luxury brand, resulting in conspicuous purchasing that they think will achieve a positive self-perception---in the Met Gala case, this depicts the competitiveness from designers to make the most glamorous fits so they will get exposure from the public's view.

Image 2. Katy Perry dressed as "lit" at the 2019 Met Gala. Source: Vogue, 2019

Throughout the years, designers always make these splashy configurations and collaborate with famous stars as their models. Image 2 has shown one of many Met Gala's "unique" demonstrations just to gain acknowledgement, mainly in social media. Imagine how ambitious these designers and fashion houses are that they put astronomical effort into creating appearances, just for a one night look.

Creation of Exclusive Market

Not just the massive haute couture, Met Gala also portrays capitalism by serving scarce availability of the event. Since 1999, Anna Wintour has been the main organizer of the occasion, she selects the guest list herself and a Met Gala invitation is a highly prized status symbol by then. This dynamites the market condition, which in Figure 2 a leftward shifting on the supply curve occurs that identifies how the high-pricing and limited invitations for the Met Gala decrease the quantity of attendances so the velvet dinner can be exclusive for the elites.

Figure 2. Shift in the supply curve. Source: Study.com

This means, ordinary people cannot simply purchase tickets for the Met Gala. Anna Wintour herself, starts planning the guest list months in advance and devotes a great deal of time carefully selecting each invitee (Mud, 2023). She seeks out attendees who are noteworthy and powerful in the fashion world, such as designers, models, and style icons who have had a big impact on the field recently. Other than Wintour, every year a new fashion label sponsors the event, and they frequently have some say over who gets to attend. Furthermore, there are only a certain number of invites available because the guest list is restricted to approximately 600--700 individuals.

With a mechanism like that, only the high-profiled can get in and the poor can only watch. Which sets an irony that the rich are getting richer due to their escalating power and status because of the Met Gala disclosure, creating an unstoppable cycle of a capitalist mindset how the poor cannot climb their social and economic status.

Glamorous Economic Evolution

Apparently after we understand the capitalist phenomenon of Met Gala, it actually captivated strong economic impact for the fashion industry. During the early years, the night cost $50 a ticket and in a matter of years tickets doubled in price, reaching $50,000 per ticket and $300,000 for a table by 2023. Tables at the Gala typically go between $200,000 and $300,000. The fashion exhibit, which is typically open to the public after the event, drew an estimated 1.6 million visitors in 2021.