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Article snippet: Officially, it’s the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute benefit, a black-tie extravaganza held the first Monday in May to raise money for the Costume Institute (a.k.a. the fashion department), the only one of the Met’s curatorial departments that has to fund itself. Unofficially, the night’s festivities have been called many things, including “the party of the year,” “the Oscars of the East Coast” (mostly because of the star quotient and the elaborate red carpet, in which guests pose on the grand entrance stairs to the museum) and, somewhat pointedly, “an A.T.M. for the Met,” the last by the publicist Paul Wilmot. The party signals the opening of the Costume Institute’s annual blockbuster show, and it is known for its celebrity and fashion hosts. This year, the exhibition is “Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between,” and the hosts are Anna Wintour (the Wizard of Oz for this particular event), Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen, Katy Perry and Pharrell Williams; honorary chairwomen are Ms. Kawakubo and Caroline Kennedy, the former United States ambassador to Japan. Why is it called the party of the year? Ms. Wintour, the editor of American Vogue and the artistic director of Condé Nast, took over as chairwoman of the gala in 1999. Since then, she has been instrumental in transforming a local philanthropic event into the ultimate global celebrity/power cocktail: Take a jigger of famous names from fashion, add film, politics and business, and mix. It’... Link to the full article to read more