May 21, 2025
This story may be familiar to you. It’s the one in which a Vogue journalist (me) attempts to attend every Met Gala after-party. It’s because I have written this story four times in four different years. In 2022, my boss Chioma, who is now the head of editorial at British Vogue, gave me the assignment when she heard of the five post-Met Gala events that followed “In America: A Fashion Anthology.” She thought the number was absurd. Would I try to attend all of them and write about it? I went. Since then, it’s become an annual ritual.
Chioma and I were unaware that the song was a celebratory children’s game. The 2025 Met Gala featured 17 after-parties — yes, 17. This was a social odyssey that fell only five short of Homer’s epic 24-book tale. When Lilah Ramzi added the 11th Met Gala After-Party to my list, Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz’s rollerblade disco late at night at Xanadu Roller Arts, Brooklyn, I said, “You’re fucking me.” Lilah insisted she wasn’t. She then added a new row to our Excel document for the 12th entry–A$AP Rocky in Jeans. This number continued to rise until May 4 at 5:49 pm, when she added her final entry and 17th row: Janelle and Doechii in the Public Hotel.
The next night at 10:30 pm, as Usher was about to take the stage for the 2025 Met Gala performance, I walked out into the night in a $150 Emilia Wickstead dress from The RealReal, a DuaneReade umbrella, and the dream of attending every Met Gala after party.
Now, I’ll tell you the truth: I did not. It was a long journey but like Homer’s.
Willy Chavaria & Don Julio at The Mark Hotel
At 10:30 pm, I arrive at The Mark Hotel, where Willy Chavaria will be hosting an after-party with Don Julio. It is packed at this party, even though there are no celebrities yet. They’re still listening to Usher at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. All the stylists and makeup artists who created their looks, as well as assistants and hairdressers, are now off the clock. They’re all ready to drink.
What is the main topic of discussion? This event is not important; it’s the next. One stylist tells another, “I’m going to GQ, then Pharrell’s.” “Do you think A$AP Rocky’s worth going to?“ he replies.
It’s the party that you attend to prepare for the next one. It’s important that the “starter party‘ is easy to find, has a bar where you can easily get a drink, and, most importantly, doesn’t make you feel awkward walking in alone. It’s almost as if everyone is here to meet up before heading somewhere else. You don’t want to be alone in that other place.
As I was leaving with Laurence, I saw a waiter setting out club-like tables and bottles of Don Julio. This is, for some, the final act.
Cartier Party Two at The Carlyle
Cartier’s annual celebration at The Carlyle Bemelmans Bar is so classy; calling it a party would be a disservice. It’s so elegant. Servers in white jackets serve champagne and sausages on silver trays while bartenders pour espresso martinis adorned with drawings by Ludwig Bemelman. I grab one, slide into a corner and do what I love to do: people-watch.
Jeremy Allen White enters alone, with his hands in his pockets and head lowered. Louis Partridge, please give his name to Cartier’s check-in staff. He also makes small talk with them about his first Met Gala. Quinta Brunson has been milling around.
Something is wrong. I don’t mean to imply that the names mentioned aren’t noteworthy. Cartier’s party is always the most celebrity-filled of the evening. What about the majority of celebs? They’re just… not here. What the hell happened to them? Checking my watch, I wonder. It’s midnight.
Laurence, I tell you to go. “Everyone must have been at the GQ Party.”
After we left, I learned that Emma Chamberlain and Aimee Wood, Lana Del Rey, Miley Cyrus, Ayo Edebiri, Jeff Goldblum, and Colman Domingo were all there. Del Rey sang “Candy Necklace”, accompanied by Jon Baptiste, in a surprise appearance. I was too impatient to wait for everyone else to arrive.
Party 3: GQ After-Party Hosted by Will Welch and Grace Wales Bonner with Law Roach, Anok Yai, and Andre 3000
GQ’s post-Met event will be held at Cafe Zaffri in The Twenty Two, a restaurant/private club that is one of New York City’s hottest reservations right now. This is a party with trendy people at a trendy place.
I changed from my Met Gala gown into a Monse short mini dress. Or, um, tried to: “I swear, it fits!“ I said in the back seat of an SUV while my colleague and close friend Ian was trying to jam it above my head. Spoiler alert! It didn’t. I’m now carrying my clutch strategically to hide my broken zipper, and Ian’s hands are bleeding. It’s okay: Kendall Jenner and Hailey Bieber are also here in minidresses. Is the whole thing a vibe? Ian is still holding his hand. He confirms that it is. I ride up to the bar, grab a margarita and get on my horse.
I bump into a stylist who knows that I am trying to attend as many Met Gala events as possible. He looks at my Excel spreadsheet, focusing on the ninth entry: Walton Goggins’ after-party at The Mulberry. Begins at two a.m.
Party Four: Peoples
Ayo Edebiri is co-hosting a “private“ after-party with Jeremy O. Harris and Tyler Mitchell at People’s. The Greenwich Village bar has gained cult status since it opened in an old townhouse last fall. As soon as Frankie Carattini, wearing Thom Browne ushered me in, it became clear that “intimate“ at this party meant around 100 people. Most of them were… very famous.
Robert Pattinson and Jeremy Allen White have a heart-to-heart. Suki Waterhouse joins them later. Tracee Ellis Ross, Diana Ross and their mother are taking a selfie together. Someone angles a photo of a brunette wearing a button-down shirt and another wearing a crop top. Laurence and I immediately realised that these were Charli XCX and Lorde. We duck frantically when we know we’re in their background. The Dare light up a cigarette in the studio, and a crew of people join him.
It’s now 2:30 am, and I need to move quickly if I plan to visit more places on my list. It’s hard to leave the room as rumours spread that Jennie was on her way.
Party 5: Baz’s After-Party At Monsieur
“I swear, I’m on the list,“ I said, exasperated to the doorman of Monsieur’s, BazLuhrmann and Jon Neidich East Village lounge.
He replies, “I can’t find your name on this list.”
A sprinter van pulls up, and a group of well-dressed, attractive people pulls up. One of them is a male model who’s always out and about. “Do you want any help getting in?“ he asks as he flies past the rope. He is inside before I can even take up his (probably not real) offer. The rain gets heavier. My mascara is starting to run down my cheek.
Neidich opened the door just as I was about to leave, humiliated and silent. I smile at the doorman, see! Before heading in, I was on your list.
Luhrmann and his wife, Catherine Martin, are in the room. On the dance floor, people are having a great time.
But I am uneasy. I got a message from a friend in Meatpacking, who heard that Pharrell was hosting a Uno Tournament at The Crane Club. He heard that they were giving out Rolexes as prizes. Laurence grabs me to dance, but I pull away.
“Let’s go,“ I say.
“You sure?“ He asks back.
“Yes. “Yes.
We’re back in the SUV.
A$AP Rocky Party Five at Jean’s
A$AP Rocky’s after-party is on its way to The Crane Club from Monsieur. The invitation advertised it as “a space of two down.” So, we decided to make a quick pit stop. When we walked in, the place was pretty empty.
At this point, it’s well past 3 in the morning. Logically, this party would be empty because people, well, are going to bed. It just makes me believe that everyone is at Pharrells. After a quick, unmemorable circuit, we get back into the car.
Party Six & Seven: Savannah James & Pharrell at The Crane Club
The Crane Club hosts two parties, one upstairs by Savannah James and the other downstairs by Pharrell. It’s just semantics because I’m wrong: Everyone was not at Pharrells. As a PR person informed me, the Uno Tournament ended around 15 minutes ago. I promise her that I’ll acknowledge this in the article. Here’s me keeping my word.
Walton Goggins at The Mulberry
The Mulberry bar hosted Walton Goggins’s after-party. The start hour of the party was 2 am. This was, I thought, the place to go for a late-night party.
Laurence and I walk in…and don’t recognise a soul. I look at the person in line for the bathroom. I look closer. “I wonder if that’s an actor from the Summer I Turned Pretty?“ “Actua,l, ly I m not certain.”
We order a drink and then sit down in the booth. I’m hoping that people will trickle into the bar.
As I have been so many times today, I was wrong. It turns out that the party I left was the one I had already attended. As I stared at an empty floor, Charli XCX and Jeremy O. Harris were at Monsieur. Many stayed until dawn.
Every year after this assignment, I am asked which after-party at the Met Gala was the most enjoyable. I usually mention the one with the most celebrities because I think that’s what they want to hear. I might say how Cardi rapped or how charismatic Jude Law is.
But if I’m being honest? I’m not sure.
Here’s what you need to know about chasing parties. You’re constantly wondering if you can find a room with more people that is somehow “cooler”, a vague concept, than the one in which you are standing. You are never satisfied with where you are. When you’re never satisfied where you are, you feel nothing cool. It’s strange how life works. When you’re not interested in having fun, it’s when you start to have some.
The DJ starts playing Madonna at The Mulberry. Laurence offers me to dance for the second night in a row. This time, I accept. “Do you accept song requests?“ I ask the DJ. Could you play “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun?”
He doesn’t hear me.
I didn’t see Walton Goggins on that night. He may have come later. Maybe he never came.
Arriving home just before 5 am, I remove my Manolo Blahniks, being careful not to tear the blisters on my heels. I leave my Monse dress on the floor after unzipping it. I stare at the mirror and pull out my fake eyelashes one by one. Then I started singing: “I’m coming home in the morning. My mother asks, ‘When are you going to live your life correctly?‘
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