Even though she orchestrates the Met Gala, one of the most prestigious events in the fashion world, Anna Wintour consistently skips the afterparty.
The feared Vogue boss, 75, explained her reason for never attending the bash that follows the glamorous fundraising gala, while appearing on Late Night with Seth Meyers on Wednesday.
Wintour — who is facing calls to ‘step down’ from Met Gala after ‘stale and forgettable’ 2025 event — was joined by her co-chair at this year’s gala, rapper A$AP Rocky, 36.
While discussing how Rocky’s grandmother attended the late night party, Seth pointed out, ‘Anna, you famously don’t ever go to the afterparties’ to which she jokingly replied, ‘I don’t. I live vicariously through Rocky.’
Meanwhile Seth quipped that she has a ‘very noble reason’ for not attending. ‘You feel as though your presence will affect behavior,’ the show host added.
‘I think they’re done with me. I’m certainly done with myself at that point. I go downstairs to the war room to thank the team that worked so hard all night,’ Anna replied.
Even though she orchestrates the Met Gala, one of the most prestigious events in the fashion world, Anna Wintour, 75, consistently skips the afterparty
The feared Vogue boss explained her reason for never attending the bash that follows the glamorous fundraising gala, while appearing on Late Night with Seth Meyers on Wednesday
Seth then showed a photo of Anna — who had an awkward moment on the red carpet at the event — with her large team.
‘And just a shoutout to that team. This is the amount of people it takes to… to pull it off. Really, really something.’
He then turned to Rocky, whose girlfriend Rihanna revealed her third pregnancy at the event, stating, ‘And now, you hosted your own afterparty.’
‘Yes, I did,’ the hip hop star replied, as Anna quipped: ‘He’s just coming from it.’
‘I was going to say. How late? Be honest, how late did it go?’ Seth asked, after previously sharing a photo of Rocky and his grandmother at the afterparty.
‘Well that picture of my grandmother is us walking out of the afterparty at 8:00 A.M’
‘Your grandmother made it till 8:00 A.M.’ a shocked Seth asked.
‘Yes,’ he replied, as Anna jokingly inquired, ‘What is she on?’
‘Now, you know your grandmother better than me. Were you surprised she made it to 8:00 A.M., or knowing her, was that just normal?’ the host asked.
‘She was waiting on her boo to show up,’ Rocky replied, after previously revealing his grandmother was hoping to meet one of the other co-chairs, Colman Domingo, 55.
‘This is a heartbreaking story,’ Seth joked as Anna chimed in she had Colman’s phone number and Rocky teased that she needed to ‘hook that up.’
While discussing how her co-chair A$AP Rocky’s grandmother attended the afterparty, Seth pointed out, ‘Anna, you famously don’t ever go to the afterparties’ to which she jokingly replied, ‘I don’t. I live vicariously through Rocky’
Meanwhile Seth quipped that she has a ‘very noble reason’ for not attending. ‘You feel as though your presence will affect behavior,’ the show host added
‘I think they’re done with me. I’m certainly done with myself at that point. I go downstairs to the war room to thank the team that worked so hard all night,’ Anna replied
Seth then showed a photo of Anna with her large team
Meanwhile Rocky shared that he hosted his own afterparty
Seth shared a photo of Rocky and his grandmother at the afterparty, as the hip hop star revealed they left the bash at 8:00 A.M.
There were a number of after parties that followed the flashy fashion event, including a star-studded one at the PUBLIC hotel in New York City.
Playing host to the riskiest after-party of the night, the Ian Schrager owned PUBLIC welcomed stars including Janelle Monáe, Bebe Rexha and Coco Rocha for an exclusive, cocktail-fuelled celebration.
Ensuring she claimed the spotlight, Monáe, 39, exposed her breasts in a provocative black-and-white co-ord as she partied with guests on Monday evening.
Anna’s interview comes after she was advised to step down from the Met Gala by a leading PR expert after this year’s event was blasted as ‘forgettable’ and declared ‘dead’ by spectators across the globe.
The biggest night in fashion took place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on Monday but failed to deliver the star power and glamour of years past.
The 2025 theme – Superfine: Tailoring Black Style – presented an opportunity for ‘boundary-pushing’ looks, but big names such as Kim Kardashian, Hailey Bieber, and Kendall Jenner, struggled to stand out in their unremarkable looks.
Now, leading PR expert Sarah Schmidt has advised Wintour to end her three-decade reign and pass on the baton in a bid to introduce ‘radical imagination.’
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Schmidt, who is the President of Interdependence, suggested that Wintour stepping down from the Met Gala could be the ‘most strategic move.’
She pointed out that in doing so, she would not only be able to walk away ‘with her legacy intact’ but also uphold the Met Gala’s prestige and prevent it from becoming a ‘relic.’
Schmidt said: ‘If Anna Wintour were to step down now, it could be the most strategic move of her career — a final act that reasserts her power by knowing when to pass the torch.
‘This year’s Met Gala was polished but forgettable, and that’s the problem. When fashion’s biggest night feels safe, it stops shaping culture and starts chasing it.’
There were a number of after parties that followed the flashy fashion event, including a star-studded one at the PUBLIC hotel, where Janelle Monáe exposed her breasts in a provocative look
It comes after Wintour was advised to step down from the Met Gala by a leading PR expert after this year’s event was blasted as ‘forgettable’ and declared ‘dead’ by spectators across the globe
Vogue editor-in-chief Wintour has been the Met Gala chair or co-chair since 1995, although skipped duties in 1996.
In 2023, actress Julia Fox hit out at Wintour and the Met Gala and called for her to step down.
In an explosive interview with DailyMail.com at the time, she said: ‘To be honest with you, the Met Gala has never spoken to me – I mean look at who is running it.
‘If it was about fashion, I’d be there but it’s not,’ she went on. ‘It’s about politics, privilege, who your parents are and how much money you make.’
‘She [Anna Wintour] just won’t quit – how long is she going to keep going?’ Julia added.
PR expert Schmidt argued that Julia’s viewpoint of Wintour and the Met Gala being ‘stale’ was a fair assessment.
‘Julia Fox wasn’t wrong to call it stale, she was just early,’ she continued. ‘A new curator could inject the risk, relevance and radical imagination that Gen Z craves, while Anna exits with her legacy intact.
‘And in a hyper-social era where TikTok sets trends faster than couture can catch up, even the format of the Met Gala may need a reboot: less fortress, more feed.
The biggest night in fashion took place on Monday, but failed to deliver the star power and glamour of years past, as big names such as Kim Kardashian, Hailey Bieber (pictured), and Kendall Jenner, struggled to stand out in their unremarkable looks
‘The bigger risk is holding on too long and watching the institution she built become a relic of past relevance.’
As it currently stands, there are no whisperings on whether Wintour intends to step down from her Met Gala chair duties.
In an interview with Good Morning America which aired on Monday morning, Wintour told co-anchor Michael Strahan about the pressure of the job.
She said: ‘Each one is very different.
‘And this one has been, I think, particularly meaningful and emotional and has a real heightened sense of purpose, because of the times that we’re living in.’
