Let’s get this straight: if you haven’t gotten your invitation to the 2026 Met Gala by now—the annual fundraiser at the Metropolitan Museum of Art—it’s not happening. Your celebrity friend-of-a-friend is never going to bring you as a plus-one. And even if you are somehow blessed enough to be able to give a multi-million-dollar donation to a cultural institution…well, the guest list is already full of those whose checks have already been cashed. (May we suggest The Met Opera instead?)
Met Gala after parties, however? Well… you have a decent shot. Whereas there’s only one Met Gala, every year dozens of events pop-up in its wake, inviting a cool crowd to fill up the rooms and drink champagne all in the name of fashion. Below, our guide to Met Gala after parties.
The Uptown Affairs
The Met Gala itself is held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on 82nd Street and Fifth Avenue. The night’s first wave of parties begin at 10 p.m. and take place nearby on the blocks surrounding it on the Upper East Side—usually at The Mark and The Carlyle hotels, where a critical mass of the Met Gala’s guests stay. The Mark has hosted a number of events over the years—including parties for Karl by Karl Lagerfeld in 2023 and Willy Chavarria x Don Julio in 2025. For the past few years, the Carlyle has been home to Cartier’s elegant post-Met bash, held at the hotel’s iconic Bemelmans Bar amongst Madeline writer and illustrator Ludwig Bemelmans’s murals. (They serve an excellent pigs in a blanket.) Then there’s always a wild card location: Instagram once threw a party at the historic James P. Duke House. And it’s hard to imagine there not being a glitzy bash at Maxime’s this year, Robin Birley’s chi-chi members club with its Rifat Özbek–designed interiors.
The dress code for these parties is on the formal end: many guests are coming straight from the gala and show up in the very outfits they wore on the red carpet. So maybe save your sequin dress with cutouts for…
The Downtown Bashes
Word to the weary: these parties don’t start until at least midnight. Their invitations may technically have an earlier time—but with the Met Gala itself ending around 10, the uptown parties, and the fact that most of the VIPs actually invited to the Met do a high-profile outfit change into a more party-appropriate look—it takes time for any sort of critical mass to make its way to Union Square and below. Their first stop will likely be the GQ party, at an under wraps location.
After that? It’s off to The Standard’s Boom Boom Room. The party at Boom is arguably the most well-known of the night: it’s existed at the same place and same time for almost two decades. (It’s also the location of one of the most dramatic moments in pop culture: when Solange and Jay-Z got in an elevator.) This year, the Boom party is hosted by Grace Gummer (fresh off her Love Story buzz), Gabriela Hearst, and Yola Mezcal. Oh and they might swing by Baz Luhrmann’s bar Monsieur—The Moulin Rouge director is famous for throwing together raging late night parties.