New York City socialite Julie Macklowe is breaking the number one rule of the Met Gala: you don’t diss Anna Wintour’s grand event.
Page Six has learned that during an upcoming episode of Joe Pardavila’s “Good Listen” podcast, former hedge fund manager Macklowe will slam the annual event, known as the “Oscars of Fashion,” saying it’s “generally a giant s**t show” that’s short on star power.
“I’d say 10 years ago, it used to be more socialites, more business people,” she explains. “More like real, A-list celebrities. Now it has become much more influencers. Half the people who go there, I don’t even know who they are. And it feels like everyone’s just trying to dress naked at this point.”
(Not quite incidentally, Macklowe appeared naked in Vogue in May 2014 in an ad for her skin care line, vbeauté.)
The gala has seen almost every celeb pass through its doors, drawing in A-listers like Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Blake Lively, Sarah Jessica Parker, the Kardashian/Jenner family, Anne Hathaway, Timothee Chalamet and Beyonce and Jay Z. It is also attended by socialites like Elyse Newhouse and Gillian and Sylvester Miniter.
Influencers like Addison Rae, Dixie D’Amelio, Emma Chamberlain and Madison Beer have also attended.
Macklowe is married to wealthy developer Billy Macklowe whose parents are billionaire real estate legend Harry Macklowe and his ex wife, art collector, Linda Macklowe.
She hasn’t gone to the event since 2019, but the socialite says she had a boozy billionaire run-in at that year’s “Camp” themed bash.
“I was standing in line and Jeff Bezos was literally right next to me. He’s like, ‘What is in that flask? And can I have a sip?’ I’m like, ‘I have whiskey in my flask.’ So, he had a sip from my flask.”
Macklowe owns an eponymous single-malt whiskey brand.
The socialite knows that there are consequences for speaking badly of Wintour’s baby.
“Obviously, I don’t care if I don’t get invited back,” she said.
Others have braved the ire of Vogue’s icy editrix.
Comic Amy Schumer told Howard Stern in 2016: “It’s people doing an impression of having a conversation. I don’t like the farce… We’re dressed up like a bunch of fucking assholes.”
Singer Demi Lovato complained about mean girls, saying, “This one celebrity was a complete b*tch and was miserable to be around. It was very cliquey.” And she said attendees were “fake and sucking the fashion industry’s d**k.”
Tia Fey famously dubbed it a “jerk parade.”
“Every jerk from every walk of life is there wearing some stupid thing,” she said.
Still, many would die for a chance to go the event, which not only requires the $30,000 to $50,000 to buy a single ticket (tables can range between $275,000 to $500,000, according to sources) to benefit the Met’s Costume Institute, but requires an invite and approval from Wintour herself.
A source told Page Six in 2020 that designers who buy a table “can invite who they want, but they run their guests past Anna. . . If Anna has had a bad experience with you, or doesn’t feel like you should be in, you’re not invited.”