Celebrity3 min(s) read
Published 11:53 01 May 2026 GMT
The reason why Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian will not be seated next to each other at the Met Gala has been revealed.
The annual fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York returns on May 4, bringing together some of the biggest names in fashion, film, and music.
But while fans focus on red carpet looks, organizers are busy working behind the scenes to make sure there are no uncomfortable run-ins once guests take their seats.
Eaddy Kiernan, who organizes Vogue’s Met Gala each year, has shared just how much effort goes into arranging the seating chart.
"We start with a seating document when the names come together in December," Kiernan previously told Vogue. "The actual seating chart doesn’t come together until about a month before the event, when we get a sense for the layout of the room, and the flow of the evening."
Her team carefully considers every pairing, aiming to create genuine connections between guests while steering clear of past relationships.
"Our ideal pairing would maybe be two people who we think will just get on like a house on fire, but who may not even realise that they have a lot in common," she divulged. "So with each person, we really do take time to think, ‘What will they talk about?’"
She added: "We try and think a lot about sight lines and where people have sat in the past. And we try to make sure someone isn’t staring into the eyes of a former flame."
As always, the event is being hosted by Anna Wintour, even after stepping down as Vogue's editor-in-chief in June 2025 following nearly four decades in the role.
This year’s co-chairs include Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, and tennis star Venus Williams, with hundreds of celebrities expected to attend.
The planning team will also be mindful of other high-profile breakups. Kidman’s former husband, Keith Urban, for example, is unlikely to attend.
The ex-couple last appeared together at the event in 2024 before splitting months later and finalizing their divorce in January 2026.
The 2026 Met Gala will center around the theme "Costume Art," with a dress code of "fashion is art," per USA Today.
The exhibition aims to explore the relationship between clothing and the human body, pairing garments with artwork to highlight how fashion functions as an artistic expression.
Per the title, "Costume Art will "examine the centrality of the dressed body" by interspersing garments and artwork "to create pairings that not only illuminate the indivisible connection between clothing and the body but also the complex interplay between artistic representations of the body and fashion as an embodied artform".
Max Hollein, the Met’s director and CEO, said the exhibition will "highlight The Met's unique ability to position fashion within the context of more than 5,000 years of art represented in its collection."
The exhibition opens May 10, 2026, and will run through January 10, 2027.
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