Every fashionistas favorite Monday has come, Yes we are talking about no other than the most exclusive event on the social calendar and the most elegant soiree of the year, The Met Gala.

The Met Gala is the biggest invite-only event on the fashion fundraising calendar. Last year tickets were being sold at $25,000 per person and in 2015 approximately $12.5 million was raised! However, money doesn’t guarantee you an invitation as Anna Wintour has the final say over the guest list.

Anna Wintour is the editor in chief of Vogue Magazine and a fashion icon. She is the maestro of the event: everything from the theme to the guest list and the public figures chosen to serve as the event’s co-chairs are all in her realm of responsibility. Through this event she has merged fashion and art by pairing each invited celebrity with a specific fashion designer. The avant-garde garments paired with celebrity power catapult the effects of the design.

The Met Gala takes place on the first Monday of May. Red carpet coverage will begin at around 7pm local time. Viewers in the UK can follow Vogue’s coverage from 1am GMT online. It starts with the guests walking down the most extravagant red carpet followed by cocktail hour where guests can take in the magnificent new exhibition spread across three venues: the Anna Wintour Costume Center, the medieval galleries at the Met’s main location, and at the Cloisters, further uptown. The dinner and main event are held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This year is the event’s 70th anniversary! But Where did it all begin? It was initially founded by Eleanor Lambert in 1948 with the aim of getting New York’s high society to get out their wallets and donate to the less fortunate. In its modern incarnation, La creme de la creme of film, music, art and fashion come together in order to raise money for the Met’s Costume Institute and celebrate the newest exhibition.

This year’s exhibition theme is Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination. for which curators hand-picked and transported 40 vestments and accessories that have never before left the Vatican’s possession. We are talking about rare gems such as Pope Benedict XV’s white silk cape embroidered with gold thread and the bishop’s hat of Pope Leo XIII. These historic garments will be displayed alongside garments designed by fashion legends such as Coco Chanel, John Galliano, Cristóbal Balenciaga and Donatella Versace. The curator of the event is Andrew Bolton.