<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWho would you never invite back to the Met Gala?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s what Late Late Show<\/em> host James Corden asked Anna Wintour, then-editor-in-chief of Vogue<\/em>, in 2017, during a game <\/a>called \u201cSpill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDonald Trump,\u201d the fashion executive answered, to thunderous applause. And although neither Trump nor his immediate family have been present at fashion\u2019s biggest night since before the start of his first term<\/a>, Wintour seems to have no issue with MAGA-adjacent benefactors of his administration\u2019s assault on culture\u2014as evidenced by this year\u2019s lead sponsors and honorary co-chairs: Jeff and Lauren S\u00e1nchez Bezos, who were front and center at Trump\u2019s second inauguration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In defense of the guest list which she oversees, Wintour, who stepped down as editor-in-chief of Vogue last June<\/a> but remains Vogue<\/em>\u2019s global editorial director<\/a> and head of the Met Gala, told CNN that<\/a> she\u2019s \u201cgrateful\u201d for S\u00e1nchez Bezos\u2019 \u201cgenerosity.\u201d (The amount contributed by S\u00e1nchez Bezos and her husband, Jeff, is currently unknown.) Wintour added that S\u00e1nchez Bezos is \u201ca great lover of costume and obviously of fashion, so we’re thrilled she’s part of the night.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Examining the broligarchs\u2019 foray into fashion<\/a>, in which they attend shows in Milan<\/a> and Paris<\/a> clad in couture and court the luxury fashion industry with charity<\/a>, I can\u2019t help but feel that no matter how many runway shows they attend or which designers they wear, they still come up short in their struggle to conquer cool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bezos and S\u00e1nchez attended the Met Costume Institute’s spring exhibit and annual fundraiser in 2024. And Big Tech firms like Amazon<\/a>, TikTok<\/a>, and Apple<\/a>, with their deep pockets and powerful algorithms, have been welcome sponsors of the event since the early 2010s. But this year\u2019s benefit has attracted increased scrutiny since Silicon Valley officially hitched its wagon to the Trump train, with anti-billionaire protestors<\/a> papering the New York City subway with posters calling on passersby to \u201cboycott the Bezos Met Gala\u201d and criticizing Amazon for its allegedly poor working conditions<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Amazon donated $1 million<\/a> to Trump\u2019s 2024 inauguration fund and subsequently spent a baffling $75 million on a vanity doc about Melania<\/a>. And as owner of the Washington Post<\/em>, Bezos blocked the paper from endorsing Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the Met Gala has long been dismissed as a gross display of wealth (tickets cost $100,000<\/a>, more than the median down payment on a house<\/a> in the US), the involvement of the third-richest man in the world, whitewashing his reputation through a fundraiser for one of the country\u2019s most storied museums while contributing to Trump\u2019s war on culture, sort of obscures the costumes with its glaring irony. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since taking office last January, Trump has canceled National Endowment for the Arts grants<\/a>, imperiling hundreds of arts organizations across the country; threatened museums via executive order<\/a> to comply with his anti-\u201cwoke\u201d agenda; and taken over the Kennedy Center<\/a> for the Performing Arts, renaming it after himself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bezos isn\u2019t just a passive observer in these attacks on arts and culture. Under his leadership, the Post <\/em>laid off wide swaths of its staff as subscribers fled, shuttering its books section<\/a> and dealing a severe blow to media coverage of the arts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As the Bezoses, Wintour, and a trio of famous women greet celebrity guests on the Met steps Monday evening, socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani and first lady Rama Duwaji reportedly have other plans<\/a>. (It\u2019s probably for the best, considering the debacle over Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s 2021 \u201cTax the Rich\u201d dress<\/a> and recent uproar over boots<\/a> Duwaji borrowed for her husband\u2019s inauguration earlier this year.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, though, I know they would have come dressed to impress\u2014and slayed, effortlessly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n