No selfies
In a world where publicity is of the utmost importance, it is hard to believe that celebrities would be discouraged from sharing selfies and personal photos from inside the Met Gala, but Wintour had done just that.
Since 2015, the editor, who is known for hating selfies, has banned attendees from taking photos and videos on their cellphones in an effort to keep them from posting them on their social media pages.
Of course, there are plenty of celebrities who break the rule year after year. Taking a bathroom selfie has become somewhat of a right of passage for the A-list attendees who are looking to give their fans a behind-the-scenes look at the gala.
Kim Kardashian, her half-sister Kylie Jenner, and Ariana Grande were among those who couldn’t resist posing for selfies at last year’s event, and it’s likely that many people will be ignoring the unpopular ban on Monday evening as well.
No cellphones
Not only has Wintour banned her Met Gala guests from taking photos, but she has also forbidden cellphones all together because she wants her guests conversing.
‘Anna is sort of an old-school traditionalist. She likes a dinner party where people are actually speaking to each other,’ former Met Gala planner Sylvana Durrett explained in ‘The First Monday in May,’ a documentary about the 2015 event.
Durrett admitted that staffers will even go as far as checking on people’s cellphone usage throughout the night.
‘We aren’t sitting over people’s shoulders, but if it’s an obvious thing we might gently remind them,’ she said.
No smoking
It’s no secret that smoking indoors is illegal in New York City, but some celebrities acted like they were at a private house party when they lit up in the bathroom at the Met Gala in 2017.
Bella Hadid, Dakota Johnson, Behati Prinsloo, Marc Jacobs, and Frances Bean Cobain were among the stars who were photographed puffing away inside the event, much to the displeasure of museum donors.
‘As a donor to the Met, I was so insulted to see all these “celebrities” smoking and taking selfies of themselves in the bathroom,’ one person told Page Six.
‘Mostly, it’s disrespectful to the art collection, which needs to be kept 100 per cent smoke-free. I would honestly like to see these people fined by the city.’
2018’s invites specified that smoking was banned inside the museum, and there were also ‘No Smoking’ signs inside the venue. There were also reportedly staffers sniffing for smoke outside the bathrooms, according to Page Six.
No messy foods or garlic breath
Wintour takes great care in choosing the menu for the Met Gala, and she is quick to nix any foods that can get stuck in people’s teeth, cause bad breath, or are too sloppy to eat.
In ‘The First Monday in May,’ one former Vogue spoke of the vast number of demands Wintour placed on the organizers in 2015.
She banned parsley from served at the party ‘because you don’t want that stuck in your teeth.’ Dishes were also to be prepared without onion and garlic, which gives bad breath.
Appetizers like bruschetta were also off the menu for fear of the difficult to eat dish landing on someone’s dress.
No minors
Dancer and actress Maddie Ziegler, now 17, surprised people in 2018 when she revealed she wouldn’t be attending the Met Gala because she was too young.
‘I can’t go, because I’m not old enough!’ she told the Hollywood Reporter.
Although Jaden and Willow Smith were underage when they attended the Met Gala in 2016, the rules have since changed.
Planners confirmed to the Hollywood Reporter last year that minors will no longer be allowed to attend the extravaganza, saying ‘it was not an appropriate event for people under 18.’
No publicists
Most guests aren’t allowed to bring their personal publicists on their red carpet with them or inside the venue, according to Page Six.
Without their publicists to help them navigate interviews, photo ops, and wardrobe malfunctions, celebrities are left to fend for themselves, which can add to the stress of the night.
No spouses seated together
The documentary ‘The First Monday in May’ reveals the level of tedious planning that goes into the seating arrangements a the gala.
‘A lot of thought goes into who sits next to who, if they sat together last year, if they’ve sat next to each other at other events, so much goes into it, it’s shocking,’ Durrett said.
In one scene, it was revealed that Wintour seated George Clooney’s wife Amal several seats away from him at the 2015 Met Gala.
The editor-in-chief was also less than pleased that another guest asked to bring her husband, but she relented on the condition that he didn’t spend the entire night on his cellphone.
Durrett explained that Wintour doesn’t like to seat spouses next to each other because it prevents them from mingling.
‘The whole point of these things is to meet new people, and to be interested in what others are doing. What’s the point if you come here to hang out with your husband?’ she said.
Never refuse an invite — unless you are super famous
It’s considered an honor to be invited to the Met Gala, and it has been reported that Wintour does not react kindly to those who turn her down.
More often than not, celebrities who skip the event are not invited back unless they are Beyonce level famous.
‘I know people who decided not to go one year because they weren’t around or didn’t like the theme,’ a socialite told Page Six in 2017. ‘Once you do that, you’re not invited back unless you’re triple A-list.’