Did The Met Gala Need Influencers?

This year’s Met Gala was a momentous one. Not just because it had been two years since the last one, but because this time there was a very different kind of attendee: influencers.

With Addison Rae and Emma Chamberlain ascending the steps of the Met, so too does the acknowledgment of the influencer-as-celebrity. 

For the Met Gala, whose social cache relies as much on the stir of conversation about who gets to go as much as the inventive clothes that step out of the bounds of other red carpet events, it was just the ticket to breathe life into an event that had been on hiatus. What is a Met Gala without a little controversy, after all?

Each invite is a calculated one, and Anna Wintour and her team definitely stirred the pot on this one. Some examples:

All the celebrities running from Addison Rae so she can’t ask them to be in her tiktok #MetGala  pic.twitter.com/sQ3eJE70H2

— . (@dayadune1) September 13, 2021

This is how Addison Rae ended up at the met gala pic.twitter.com/KrtXFIbecV

— ☣️ Altjuan ☣️ (@juanegade) September 14, 2021

Much of the social conversation generated by the Met Gala of course surrounded whether or not the event was truly exclusive anymore given the attendance of influencers and in particular, roasting Addison Rae’s outfit, saying it looked like a dress from ultra-fast-fashion company SHEIN, who regularly works with influencers.

In spite of this, the influencers at this year’s event have truly paved the way and next year, we won’t blink an eye if we see more of them there.