At the risk of sounding like Sean Bean in The Lord of the Rings franchise: one does not simply walk into the Met Gala.

Who scores an invite (and who doesn’t) to what is known as the most exclusive event on the yearly fashion calendar is a dark and mysterious art. Some say that you need to be personally selected by Anna Wintour, the Met Gala’s chair since 1995. (Here’s an idea of what the exclusive event looked like in 2009.) Others whisper that if you can front up some cash you can buy your way in.

What is the truth? Well, it’s a little bit column A and a little bit column B. You can buy your way into the Met Gala by paying for your ticket, proceeds of which go towards the Metropolitan Museum of Art itself. The cost of buying a ticket in 2019 is $35,000, or you can purchase an entire table for between $200,000 and $300,000. (This is a $5,000 increase on individual tickets from 2018.)

Met Gala 2019: Who is on the very select guest list (and why)?