THE MET GALA is one of the most visible celebrations of style, creativity, innovation and craftsmanship.

With the annual event having happened last week, our social media feeds were, and continue to be, inundated with photos and videos of the looks, bursting with opinions on who got it right, who got it wrong, and yet very little commentary about one seismic shift that defines this year above all else.

The billionaire owner of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, and his wife, Lauren Sánchez Bezos, contributed a reported $10 million (€8.5 million) to sponsor the event this year, which supports the Met’s Costume Institute. It was the single largest donation in the Gala’s history. And it shows.

Bezos and Sanchez bankrolled the Met Ball this year. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

One of the largest cultural events in America is becoming another monument to billionaire influence. Increasingly, many institutions in America are being quietly purchased by the same handful of people: the media, politics, sports, AI, newsrooms, social platforms and now the aesthetic world of fashion. These are the events that shape public life, and those who dominate it call the narrative.

The billionaire boys’ club

The Bezoses didn’t come alone. Amazon, Meta, OpenAI and Snapchat all purchased tables at $350,000 (€297,000) each. This was the first year a tech figure served as lead sponsor, and the first time multiple major tech companies occupied the same room at the same event.

Beyonce at this year's Met Ball. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

What was once fashion’s biggest night, where Rihanna’s dress made the front page, and designers competed for which celebrity would wear their looks up the famous steps, became something else entirely in 2026. Tech CEOs drew the headlines.

Several, including Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, quietly entered through side doors, skipping the carpet altogether. They were the most powerful people in the room. They just didn’t feel the need to show up for the spectacle they bankrolled.

Activists held........

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