Met Gala 2026: The Bezos Backlash, Devil Wears Prada 2, and What It All Means for Anna Wintour

The 2026 Met Gala has three storylines running at once: Jeff and Lauren Bezos as lead sponsors, The Devil Wears Prada 2 opening the Friday before, and Anna Wintour doing more press than she has in years. Amy sits down with Chantal Fernandez of The Cut to break down all of it — plus predictions for the night.

0:00 Intro — Why This Met Gala Is Different

1:14 - Meet Chantal Fernandez

5:42 The Theme: "Costume Art" & What It Actually Means

8:01 - The Real Story Nobody's Covering: The New Costume Institute Galleries

10:17 - How Met Gala Exhibitions Became Museum Blockbusters

12:35 - How Themes Actually Get Chosen (and Who Funds Them)

14:02 - Anna's Role: Making Exhibitions Commercial

19:00 - Why the Met Gala Gets More Criticism Than the Oscars

21:14 - What Brands Actually Get Out of Spending $350K on a Table

24:26 - Can You Even Boycott the Met Gala?

28:06 - Lauren Sanchez, Schiaparelli & the New Ultra-Rich Aesthetic

30:16 - Breaking Down the NYT Lauren Sanchez Profile

32:56 - Graydon Carter's Perfect Quote

40:14 - Fashion Is Losing Power — and the Bezoses Are a Symptom

44:01 - Anna's Devil Wears Prada 2 Marketing Blitz: Smart or a Mistake?

49:19 - Predictions for Met Gala Night

52:49 - Will Devil Wears Prada 2 Be Any Good?

54:10 - Outro

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Links & Resources

📰 Back Row Newsletter: backrow.net

📸 Amy on Instagram: instagram.com/instamyodell

Mentioned in this episode:

↳ Chantal's VIC story (thecut.com/article/luxury-fashion-brands-very-…)

↳ Amy’s recent Met Gala reporting (backrow.net/p/anna-wintour-and-the-future-of-the)

↳ NYT profile of Lauren Sanchez (nytimes.com/2026/04/11/business/lauren-sanchez…) by Amy Chozick

↳ Chantal’s 2024 Met Gala story (thecut.com/article/met-gala-costume-institute-…)

↳ Charlotte Cowles’s story asking Anna if she’s retiring (thecut.com/2008/11/in_which_we_offend_anna_win…)

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