The Morning: The Met Gala, in photos

Plus, the Israeli incursion in Rafah, a new gene therapy and Pulitzer winners.

View in browser|nytimes.com May 7, 2024 Good morning. Today my colleague Vanessa Friedman is covering the Met Gala, the biggest night in fashion. —David Leonhardt Nina Westervelt for The New York Times, Amir Hamja/The New York Times The show By Vanessa Friedman She is The Times's chief fashion critic. If you are wondering why your social media feeds are awash this morning with culture-shapers of all kinds (actors, athletes, musical artists, politicians) dressed up in the most over-the-top outfits you've ever seen, it's because last night was the Met Gala — also known as the Oscars of the East Coast and the party of the year. Every Gala has a dress code, which is tethered to the exhibition. This year, the show is titled "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion." Guests were instructed to dress according to a "Garden of Time" theme, an allusion to a 1962 J.G. Ballard short story. Yes, there is occasionally something cynical and commercial here. We've seen meme-baiting fashions in recent years: Katy Perry costumed as a chandelier, Rihanna as the pope, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a fox in the fabulous henhouse. (She wore a white ball gown with "Tax the Rich" scrawled on the back in 2021.) The famous faces often serve as quasi-advertisements for fashion brands. All of which makes it easy to forget this is actually an important fund-raiser for one of New York's cultural pillars: the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute. It was once a free-standing museum, but when it merged with the Met in 1946, part of the deal was that the Costume Institute would have to pay for itself. It is the only curatorial department in the museum where that is true. Hence the gala, which raises all the funds for the institute's operating budget. (Last year, it made $22 million.) One reason the institute is treated like a sideshow is that it has always been controversial in some quarters to treat fashion as fine art. (Shock! Horror! Clothes with the Kandinsky!) The Costume Institute itself has historically been housed in the museum's basement — a clear statement about its status at the museum. But the fashion exhibitions have become more ambitious and more popular as the curator in charge, Andrew Bolton, has focused on the intersection of dress and zeitgeist. He has aimed at themes such as camp, or fashion and Catholicism. Three of the 10 most visited exhibitions in the Met's history are Costume Institute shows. That has made it harder for the museum to justify its prejudice. Last year, it announced plans to renovate the gift shop into the new costume galleries, meaning those galleries will be among the first any visitor sees. And that is a reflection of the growing importance of fashion as part of culture, high and low. The gala, with its carefully documented entrances, has simply become everyone's pass to gleefully render judgment on the game. Feel free to do so yourself: Here are some of the more — well, eye-opening looks from last night. Amir Hamja/The New York Times Harris Reed wearing his own design. Nina Westervelt for The New York Times Lana Del Rey in Alexander McQueen. Nina Westervelt for The New York Times Demi Moore in Harris Reed. Amir Hamja/The New York Times Ariana Grande in Loewe. Nina Westervelt for The New York Times Barry Keoghan in Burberry. Nina Westervelt for The New York Times Nicki Minaj in Marni. Amir Hamja/The New York Times Bad Bunny in Maison Margiela. Nina Westervelt for The New York Times Amelia Gray in Undercover, left, and Rachel Zegler in Dior, right. Nina Westervelt for The New York Times Gigi Hadid in Thom Browne. For more Zendaya made two appearances on the carpet in two different dresses. Cardi B required eight ushers to arrange her voluminous skirt. Gigi Hadid said her dress bore 2.8 million beads. See more of the night's unforgettable looks. More influencers, fewer actors: The Washington Post tracked and categorized a decade of Met Gala attendees. ADVERTISEMENT THE LATEST NEWS Israeli Forces in Rafah In Rafah, in southern Gaza Strip. Hatem Khaled/Reuters The Israeli military said that it had sent tanks overnight into part of Rafah — the city near Gaza's border with Egypt where many Palestinians have taken refuge — in what it called a limited operation aimed at Hamas targets. Earlier, Israel had ordered more than 100,000 Gazans to evacuate the city. Israeli forces took operational control over the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing, an important route for aid. The military said, without offering evidence, that troops found three tunnel shafts near the crossing and that about 20 militants were killed during the operation. The incursion did not appear to be the long-discussed full ground invasion. Cease-Fire Negotiations Hours before the attacks, Hamas endorsed a cease-fire proposal. Officials told The Times that it was mostly similar to one Israel had previously endorsed. Israeli officials said that the proposal was unacceptable but that they would send a negotiating team to Cairo. The White House sees Hamas's announcement as a counteroffer to gain negotiating leverage, Peter Baker writes. Hamas also told negotiators that the 33 hostages it was willing to release in a cease-fire's first phase included the remains of some who had died as well as those still living. Campus Protests Pro-Palestinian protesters at M.I.T. resisted a university order to clear their encampment. Columbia University canceled its main commencement, citing security concerns. The police arrested 64 people at an encampment at the University of California, San Diego, and more than 40 at U.C.L.A. Russia Russian authorities detained a U.S. soldier in the port city of Vladivostok last week on charges of criminal misconduct. Russia is planning military exercises to practice for the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons, a display calibrated to discourage further Western intervention in Ukraine. More International News Kotono Hara, a career diplomat.  Noriko Hayashi for The New York Times After decades of government and industry efforts, Japanese women are finally making progress in the workplace. India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, has near-total control over the nation's politics — except in the wealthier, ethnically diverse south, The A.P. reports. Trump on Trial The jury in Donald Trump's Manhattan criminal trial saw the invoices and checks that prosecutors accuse Trump of falsifying to hide a hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels. Two witnesses — current and former Trump employees — testified that Trump paid close attention to outgoing cash and that much of the reimbursement for the payment came from his personal account. The judge again fined Trump for violating a gag order by criticizing the jury. Addressing Trump directly, the judge said he would consider jailing him if he kept violating it. Prosecutors have about two weeks of their case left to present. The defense then gets its turn, followed by closing arguments. More on Politics Social Security and Medicare will run out of money later than previously estimated — by the mid-2030s. The strong labor market has improved the programs' financial health. Most young voters oppose Biden's position on the Israel-Hamas war, but few rank it as their top election issue. Most care more about inflation and housing. Bernie Sanders, 82, plans to run for a fourth Senate term this fall. Health Kendric Cromer, 12.  Kenny Holston/The New York Times A new gene therapy may cure sickle cell disease. Last week, a 12-year-old boy in Washington, D.C., became the first patient to get the treatment. People with a particular gene variant are almost certain to get Alzheimer's, a study found, meaning patients could be diagnosed years before any symptoms. Other Big Stories Dozens of former inmates at Illinois youth detention centers — now adults — sued the state, accusing it of allowing workers to abuse detainees for decades. Boeing is under yet another F.A.A. investigation: It told regulators it might have skipped required inspections on its 787 Dreamliners, a separate model from the one that lost a panel midflight. Opinions Europe's radical right is rising because no other political group recognizes that the European Union is undemocratic, Lea Ypi argues. Here are columns by Michelle Goldberg on the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act and Paul Krugman on Florida's ban on lab-grown meat. A subscription to match the variety of your interests. News. Games. Recipes. Product reviews. Sports reporting. A New York Times All Access subscription covers all of it and more. Subscribe today. MORNING READS On Staten Island.  Ye Fan for The New York Times Rolling out: On a chilly May evening, Roller Jam USA — New York City's only year-round roller-skating rink — hosted its final night of operation. Hustling: Meet the schemers and savers obsessed with ending their careers as early as possible. Lives Lived: Kris Hallenga received a Stage 4 breast cancer diagnosis at 23. She spent the next 15 years educating other young people about early detection through her nonprofit and in a memoir. Hallenga died at 38. SPORTS N.B.A.: Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves stunned the defending-champion Denver Nuggets, 106-80, to go up 2-0 in their playoff tilt. N.H.L.: The Boston Bruins beat the favored Florida Panthers 5-1 on the road to open their playoff series with a 1-0 lead. ADVERTISEMENT ARTS AND IDEAS Children in Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023. Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times The Times won three Pulitzer Prizes yesterday — for its coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas, an investigation into migrant child labor and a Magazine story on a family's experience with Alzheimer's. The Washington Post also won three prizes, while The New Yorker won two. The Invisible Institute, a nonprofit based on the South Side of Chicago, also won parts of two prizes. In the book categories, the winners tended to focus on discrimination and identity, including: a biography of Martin Luther King Jr.; a portrait of Black workers in 19th-century Boston; a story of escape from bondage in Georgia; the reconstruction of a school-bus explosion that killed Palestinians; a memoir touching on violence against women in Mexico; and poetry about a multicultural upbringing. Read the complete list of winners. More on culture Ten years ago, the bearded drag queen Conchita Wurst won Eurovision, prompting celebration and condemnation. Her creator, Tom Neuwirth, looks back. In The London Observer, one writer extols the benefits of a transformative — if a little embarrassing — practice: reading books aloud with your partner. "It's like she thought 'All Dogs Go to Heaven' was a personal challenge": Jordan Klepper joked about Gov. Kristi Noem on "The Daily Show." THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Christopher Testani for The New York Times Smash portobello mushroom caps with a heavy skillet to make this burger. Fight fleas. Wear a sun hat on a hike. GAMES Here is today's Spelling Bee. Yesterday's pangrams were attachment, catchment, enchantment and enhancement. And here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for the Morning newsletter from The New York Times, or as part of your New York Times account. To stop receiving The Morning, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. To opt out of updates and offers sent from The Athletic, submit a request. Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018