What Anna Wintour’s Assistants Really Do During the Met Gala Red Carpet

Assisting Anna Wintour during the Met Gala is a task that may be easier said than done.

Before the biggest stars of fashion, film, TV, music and more arrive at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Monday, May. 6, Anna: The Biography author, Amy Odell, is giving a rare glimpse into the life of Wintour’s assistants.

“A Vogue editor will help them find a dress and take pictures for Anna to approve,” Odell shared via TikTok hours before this year’s Met Gala kicked off. “Most likely, she’ll just look at them and say they look fine.”

Once assistants arrive at the venue, they will alternate between acting as ushers, directing people where to eat and helping with any and all of Wintour’s needs.

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“She asks for random things like Advil or, ‘Can you get me this person? I want to talk to them’ or, ‘Can you get everyone to sit back from the table?’” Odell claimed. “Anna notices every detail of what goes on at the gala and will try to get her team to make it exactly the way she likes it.”

Before the red carpet even opens up, however, Wintour, 74, typically shares one helpful reminder to her staff: Make sure you are fed because it’s a long, exhilarating night.

“When I was reporting Anna: The Biography,” Odell (who also writes the popular media/fashion substack Back Row) shared, “[a former employee] recalled Anna texting her along with her other assistants preceding that year’s Met Gala to say, ‘We all need to eat today, that includes you [insert your name here].”

This year’s Met Gala celebrates the opening of the Costume Institute’s “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” exhibit. The night’s official dress code is “Garden of Time,” fitting with the exhibit’s collection of rare and historical fashion pieces.

Before the event began, Wintour apologized to those possibly confused by this year’s theme.

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“This exhibition broke my cardinal rule,” she said in an interview with Today’s Jenna Bush Hager on May 6. “When we came up with the title ‘Sleeping Beauties,’ it’s wonderful and poetic and romantic, but actually, it could be many, many things.”

After seeking dress code advice from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute curator, Andrew Bolton, Wintour said it’s possible there could be many interpretations for the “Garden of Time” attire, including lots of florals.

“I fear that we’ve unleashed a lot of confusion out there,” she said, “and for which I deeply apologize.”