Vogue revealed this year’s Met Gala dress code on Instagram yesterday but faced backlash for excluding Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez, who are major sponsors of the event.
Fans weren’t upset that the couple was left out of the post, but rather that Vogue appeared to be trying to avoid backlash — which happened anyway.
Bezos and Sánchez are the lead sponsors for the 2026 Met Gala and its associated Costume Institute exhibition, “Costume Art.” The couple will also serve as honorary chairs for the event, marking a significant role in the prestigious fashion fundraiser. As lead sponsors, they are providing substantial financial backing for the 2026 exhibition and gala. They are expected to hold a prominent position at the event, likely welcoming guests at the top of the Met steps.
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Jeff Bezos And Lauren Sanchez Sponsor This Year's Met Gala
This year’s Met Gala theme is “Costume Art.” The Instagram caption read:
“On Monday, May 4, guests at the 2026 #MetGala will celebrate ‘Costume Art,’ the spring exhibition at the @MetMuseum’s @MetCostumeInstitute. But what will they wear? The Met Gala dress code for this year is ‘Fashion is Art,’ inviting guests to express their own relationship to fashion as an embodied art form. The directive perfectly reflects the ethos of ‘Costume Art,’ which explores the ‘centrality of the dressed body’ through depictions and interpretations of the human form in the Met’s extensive collection. Tap the link in our bio for everything you need to know ahead of the first Monday in May, including the Gala's full Host Committee.”
Co-chairs of the event are Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, and Venus Williams.
Online, fans called out Vogue for “selling out” to corporate America, particularly to the owner of a billion-dollar company like Amazon.
“Bezos involved. We should wake up and stop giving so much attention to celebrities,” said one user. Another wrote, “How come the Bezoses aren't featured? They're still funding it. Trying to avoid backlash again.” Someone else commented, “Unsurprising, since this is the result of tasteless billionaires Bezos and Sanchez essentially buying out the gala. Lauren Sanchez hired one of the most talented stylists of our time, but even Law Roach can’t make her look like she has taste or an interesting fashion POV.”
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Another went into greater detail and said, “They are the lead sponsors of this year’s Met Gala, with Saint Laurent and Condé Nast as supplementary donors. The gala is typically sponsored by various fashion houses (meaning industry and artistic experts) and sometimes larger corporations. It’s never, or very, very rarely, sponsored by individuals, especially with so few other sponsors. Neither Sánchez nor Bezos have enough experience with fashion to deserve such individual authority over events like this, and it’s seen as an unearned vanity project for Sánchez. It’s also just another example of the billionaire class exercising their personal wealth and power over cultural institutions and all facets of life. It’s also a popular prediction that Bezos is aiming to buy Condé Nast and Vogue, which will further consolidate his power over media.”
“The Met fashion is over. Vogue is done. They’ve sold the last of any soul and are trying to plastic it over for cameras. The Bezos Met will be like ‘The Santa Clause 3.’ You don’t remember a plot, just the creepy mask. Boycotting,” said another.
“They had to get well-liked celebrities as co-chairs so people don't talk about how the event is sponsored by Bezos,” another speculated.
The Amazon mugol and his wife made their Met Gala debut as a couple in May 2024, stepping out in custom designs by Oscar de la Renta. The pair skipped the 2025 event due to wedding celebrations. Bezos had previously attended the 2012 Met Gala with his then-wife, MacKenzie Scott.
