When distinguished guests and A-listers gather tonight for this year’s Met Gala, two new faces will greet them on the receiving line: Lauren Sánchez Bezos and Jeff Bezos, both of whom will be at Monday’s event as honorary chairs, in addition to their roles as lead sponsors.

The appointment, which prompted a small outcry and calls for a boycott, is something of an apotheosis for the Bezoses, who have spent recent years effectively inviting themselves into some of the most exclusive corners in high fashion. There they were in January, sitting next to Anna Wintour herself, at the Paris couture shows. During the same visit, Sánchez Bezos was seen palling around with Zendaya’s stylist, the highly influential “image architect,” Law Roach. (The following day, Sánchez Bezos was spotted tripping in sky-high heels on her way to dinner with her husband.) And in June 2025, Sánchez Bezos became one of the exceedingly few brides to have their nuptials celebrated with a Vogue cover.

The enthusiasm with which the Bezoses have stormed the gates of the fashion world is the latest attempt among today’s oligarchs to seize cultural cachet. These titans of industry, apparently no longer satisfied with enormous wealth and power, now seem hellbent on sealing their reputation as fashion insiders.

But is any of this landing with the public? Will serving as honorary chair at the top of fashion’s biggest staircase cement the Bezoses’ status in high fashion? I talked to Anne Higonnet, an art historian at Columbia University, for more.

Lauren Sánchez’s eagerness to join fashion royalty is well established at this point. Now, as honorary chairs for the Met Gala this year, a sort of “storming the gates” image is invoked.

I’m going to use that image to say that what we have been witnessing in our culture is that the gates have been moved to a new place, and the most visible peak of the phenomenon is the Met Costume Institute. We are witnessing a sea change in cultural values, with fashion rising in the hierarchy of the arts with lightning........

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